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.
A 245 km round trip from Bra - roughly 4 h 35 in the saddle. It goes by way of Castello di Racconigi, Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi, Sacro Monte di Belmonte and back through Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Castello di Pollenzo
The village of Pollenzo was a Roman town, Pollentia, long before it was a Savoy estate, and in 402 a Roman army under Stilicho fought Alaric's Visigoths nearby in one of the last great battles of the Western Empire. Today the name means food. The castle and the neo-Gothic agricultural complex built around it by King Carlo Alberto in the nineteenth century, the Agenzia, now house the University of Gastronomic Sciences, founded by the Slow Food movement, which was born in nearby Bra. The estate is part of the UNESCO-listed Residences of the Royal House of Savoy.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Castello di Pollenzo 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 29 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 61 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
Castello di Pollenzo closes the day.
Leg by leg
Castello di Pollenzo to Castello di Racconigi
Castello di Pollenzo → Castello di Racconigi is 29 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 back through Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi
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 Pollenzo
back through Castello di Racconigi → Castello di Pollenzo is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.