Why this ride
From Vigarano Pieve it runs 359 km to Vigarano Pieve; allow about 5 h 49 of riding. On the way it passes Villa Badoer, Ferrara, Università e Accademia and Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Diamantina and Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 359 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 49
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Mille Miglia Historic Route Core
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 39 km this is Mille Miglia Historic Route Core, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 39 km
- Named road
- Mille Miglia Historic Route Core
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Diamantina
The Este dukes of Ferrara loved their countryside retreats, the delizie, and they scattered them across the flat land around the city like jewels on a cloth. The Diamantina, near Vigarano Pieve west of Ferrara, was one of them, an estate of farmland, woods and buildings named after the diamond, a symbol of the Este family. The delizie are part of the UNESCO listing of Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta, which recognises the city's planned urban layout and the way the Este shaped the surrounding landscape, draining marshes and creating farms and hunting grounds.
Read the complete Diamantina write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Diamantina is where the day begins. Next is Villa Badoer.
2. Villa Badoer
Fratta Polesine is a quiet village in the Polesine, the flat, fertile land between the Adige and the Po in the south of the Veneto, and its pride is a villa by Andrea Palladio. Villa Badoer, built in the 1550s for Francesco Badoer, a Venetian nobleman, stands on a raised platform above the surrounding fields, with a temple-front portico, curved colonnades sweeping out on either side to farm buildings, and a grand staircase. It was the first of Palladio's villas to use the curved barchesse, and it is part of the UNESCO-listed City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto. Inside, the walls carry frescoes, and the villa houses a museum about the Polesine and its history.
Read the complete Villa Badoer write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Badoer comes up about 39 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ferrara.
3. Ferrara
Ferrara is a city built for walking and cycling, with flat streets, a ring of Renaissance walls nine kilometres long, and so many bicycles that it is called the city of bicycles. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, under the Este family, it was one of the great courts of Renaissance Italy, and the Estense castle, with its moat and drawbridges, still dominates the centre. The city's Renaissance planning, especially the Herculean Addition, a new quarter laid out in the late fifteenth century, led historians to call it the first modern city in Europe, and UNESCO has inscribed Ferrara and the Po Delta as a World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Ferrara write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 75 km into the recorded legs you reach Ferrara. Next is Università e Accademia.
4. Università e Accademia
Walk into the courtyard of the Archiginnasio in Bologna and you walk into a gallery of coats of arms. Thousands of them cover the walls and ceilings, painted and carved by students over the centuries, each one a small act of vanity from a young man far from home. This was the main seat of the University of Bologna, which claims to be the oldest university in the world, founded in 1088. Students from all over Europe gathered here to study law, and the city got rich and proud on them. Dante, Petrarch and Copernicus are among the names said to have passed through, and the university's first women professors arrived here long before most of Europe allowed such a thing.
Read the complete Università e Accademia write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Università e Accademia, about halfway. Next is Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola, 38 km on.
5. Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola
The Santerno valley climbs south from Imola into the Apennines toward Tuscany, and about fifteen kilometres up, the river cuts through a ridge of shining grey-white rock. This is the western end of the Vena del Gesso Romagnola, the gypsum vein that runs across this part of Romagna, and Monte Penzola rises above the village of Borgo Tossignano, with Fontanelice and Casalfiumanese nearby.
Read the complete Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola sits at 154 km, about halfway. Next is back through Università e Accademia.
6. back through Università e Accademia
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Università e Accademia write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Università e Accademia comes up about 236 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Ferrara.
7. back through Ferrara
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ferrara write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 285 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Ferrara. Next is back through Villa Badoer.
8. back through Villa Badoer
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa Badoer write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa Badoer, late in the day. Next is Diamantina.
9. Diamantina
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Diamantina write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 359 km.
Leg by leg
Diamantina to Villa Badoer
Diamantina → Villa Badoer is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Badoer to Ferrara
Villa Badoer → Ferrara is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ferrara to Università e Accademia
Ferrara → Università e Accademia is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Università e Accademia to Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola
Università e Accademia → Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola is 56 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola to back through Università e Accademia
Vena del Gesso Romagnola - M.te Penzola → back through Università e Accademia is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Università e Accademia to back through Ferrara
back through Università e Accademia → back through Ferrara is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ferrara to back through Villa Badoer
back through Ferrara → back through Villa Badoer is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa Badoer to Diamantina
back through Villa Badoer → Diamantina is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
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