Castello di Govone and Sacro Monte della Beata Vergine
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
407 km
Riding-time estimate
8 h 15
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
407 km from Govone to Govone, about 8 h 15 of riding. It goes by way of Castello di Racconigi, Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi, Sacro Monte di Belmonte and Sacro Monte della Beata Vergine. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,750 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Castello di Govone
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Castello di Govone is where the day begins. Next is Castello di Racconigi.
2. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Castello di Racconigi comes up about 43 km into the recorded legs. Next is Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi.
3. 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 75 km into the recorded legs you reach Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi. Next is Sacro Monte di Belmonte.
4. Sacro Monte di Belmonte
On a granite hill rising above the Canavese plain north of Turin, the Sacro Monte di Belmonte looks out over the foothills toward the Alps. The sanctuary, run by Franciscan friars, has a church and a circuit of chapels representing the stations of the Passion, built in the early eighteenth century on a site that had long been a place of pilgrimage. It is part of the UNESCO-listed Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy, and the walk around the chapels, under chestnut and oak trees, is calm and shady even in summer.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sacro Monte di Belmonte, about halfway. Next is Sacro Monte della Beata Vergine.
5. Sacro Monte della Beata Vergine
Oropa is a sanctuary on a scale that surprises everyone who comes up the valley from Biella for the first time. At almost twelve hundred metres, in a bowl of mountains, a vast complex of churches, courtyards, porticoes and pilgrim lodgings rises in terraces, built over several centuries around an ancient chapel that holds a Black Madonna, a wooden statue of the Virgin that legend attributes to St Luke. Above the main buildings, a Sacro Monte of chapels with life-size statues illustrates the life of Mary along a wooded path. It is one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy listed by UNESCO in 2003, and one of the most important Marian shrines in the Alps.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 407 km.
Leg by leg
Castello di Govone to Castello di Racconigi
Castello di Govone → Castello di Racconigi is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Castello di Racconigi to Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi
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 to Sacro Monte di Belmonte
Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi → Sacro Monte di Belmonte is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sacro Monte di Belmonte to Sacro Monte della Beata Vergine
Sacro Monte di Belmonte → Sacro Monte della Beata Vergine is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sacro Monte della Beata Vergine to back through Sacro Monte di Belmonte
Sacro Monte della Beata Vergine → back through Sacro Monte di Belmonte is 66 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sacro Monte di Belmonte to back through Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi
back through Sacro Monte di Belmonte → back through Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi to back through Castello di Racconigi
back through 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 to Castello di Govone
back through Castello di Racconigi → Castello di Govone is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.