Montagnana is one of the best-preserved walled towns in Europe, with its entire ring of medieval brick walls, towers and gates still standing around the old centre, and just outside the eastern gate stands a villa by Andrea Palladio. Villa Pisani at Montagnana, built for Francesco Pisani in the 1550s, is a two-storey palace with a classical façade facing the road, part of the UNESCO listing of the City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto. Unlike most of Palladio's country villas, it sits right at the edge of town, more urban palazzo than farmhouse, and its elegant columns make a striking contrast with the rugged walls nearby.
The town itself deserves a slow look. The walls run for about two kilometres, with twenty-four towers and two great fortified gates, the Rocca degli Alberi and the Castel San Zeno, and the cathedral in the main square holds paintings by Veronese and others. Montagnana is also famous for its prosciutto, the Veneto Berico-Euganeo ham, sweet and delicate, which you can taste in local shops and trattorias.
The riding in the plain around Montagnana is flat and straight, with fields of maize and soy, poplars along the canals and small villages with tall bell towers. It is easy, pleasant riding but not exciting. For curves, head north-east to the Euganean Hills, a cluster of volcanic cones rising abruptly from the plain, where twisting roads climb through vineyards and chestnut woods to villages like Arquà Petrarca, where the poet Petrarch spent his last years, and the walled town of Este.
Montagnana has fuel, shops and restaurants, and the historic centre has several cafés and bars. The surrounding area is known for its wines, especially from the Colli Euganei, and for dishes like bigoli pasta with duck sauce, risotto and grilled meats.
Come in spring or early autumn, when the light on the brick walls is warm and the fields green or golden. Summer can be hot and humid, and fog often blankets the plain in winter, creating a mysterious, muffled atmosphere. Walk the circuit outside the walls at sunset, then cross the road and look at Palladio's villa in the evening light, a calm statement of classical order beside the battered medieval brick.