CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Govone it runs 205 km to Govone; allow about 3 h 33 of riding. On the way it passes Grinzane Cavour Castle, Castello di Racconigi, Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi and back through Castello di Racconigi. The line favours views over speed.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 25 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Govone is a village of eight hundred people in the Roero, the hilly country on the left bank of the Tanaro across from the Langhe, and it is dominated by a palace far too grand for its size. The Castello di Govone was a residence of the House of Savoy, rebuilt in the baroque style in the eighteenth century, and it is one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy inscribed together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Inside are rooms decorated with Chinese wallpaper, and outside, terraced gardens look down over the valley.
Read the complete Castello di Govone write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Castello di Govone is where the day begins. Next is Grinzane Cavour Castle.
Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, the man who more or less engineered the unification of Italy, spent years as mayor of this little Langhe village before he went on to bigger things, and the square brick castle on its knoll still carries his name. He experimented with winemaking here too, at a time when Barolo was still finding its modern form, so the building sits at a neat crossroads of Piedmontese politics and Piedmontese wine.
Read the complete Grinzane Cavour Castle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Grinzane Cavour Castle comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Castello di Racconigi.
Racconigi is a small town on the plain south of Turin, in Piedmont, surrounded by fields of maize and rice and lines of poplars. It is dominated by its castle, a grand residence of the House of Savoy, which ruled Piedmont and later Italy. Originally a medieval fortress, it was transformed over the centuries into a palace, with Baroque and neoclassical façades, and surrounded by a vast park with lakes, woods and a farm. The castle is part of the UNESCO-listed Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, inscribed in 1997.
Read the complete Castello di Racconigi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Castello di Racconigi. Next is Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi.
On the southern edge of Turin, at the end of a long straight avenue lined with trees, a bronze stag stands on the dome of a palace that looks like a star dropped on the plain. The Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi was built from 1729 by the architect Filippo Juvarra for King Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy as a hunting lodge, though the word lodge hardly does justice to its grand halls, frescoed ceilings and sprawling wings. It is part of the World Heritage Site of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy, inscribed in 1997.
Read the complete Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi, about halfway. Next is back through Castello di Racconigi.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Castello di Racconigi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Castello di Racconigi sits at 131 km, about halfway. Next is back through Grinzane Cavour Castle.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Grinzane Cavour Castle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Grinzane Cavour Castle comes up about 180 km into the recorded legs. Next is Castello di Govone.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Castello di Govone write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Castello di Govone closes the day.
Castello di Govone → Grinzane Cavour Castle is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Grinzane Cavour Castle → Castello di Racconigi is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Castello di Racconigi → Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi → back through Castello di Racconigi is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Castello di Racconigi → back through Grinzane Cavour Castle is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Grinzane Cavour Castle → Castello di Govone is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.