Why this ride
337 km from Ferrara to Ferrara, about 5 h 34 of riding. On the way it passes Villa Badoer, Diamantina, Villa Pisani and Villa Pisani Ferri.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ferrara and Villa Pisani Ferri
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 337 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 34
- 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 33 km this is Mille Miglia Historic Route Core, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 33 km
- Named road
- Mille Miglia Historic Route Core
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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
Ferrara 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 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Diamantina.
3. 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
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Diamantina. Next is Villa Pisani.
4. Villa Pisani
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.
Read the complete Villa Pisani write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Pisani, about halfway. Next is Villa Pisani Ferri.
5. Villa Pisani Ferri
Andrea Palladio was still a young architect, not long out of his training as a stonemason, when the Pisani brothers, members of a powerful Venetian family, asked him to design a country house at Bagnolo, near Lonigo, in the late 1530s or early 1540s. The result, now known as Villa Pisani Ferri, is one of his early villas, a solid, symmetrical house with a grand central hall and a facade facing the river, part of the UNESCO site of the City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto. Visits depend on the owners' arrangements, so check ahead if you hope to go inside.
Read the complete Villa Pisani Ferri write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Pisani Ferri sits at 129 km, about halfway. Next is back through Villa Pisani.
6. back through Villa Pisani
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa Pisani write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa Pisani comes up about 190 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Diamantina.
7. back through 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
about 263 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Diamantina. 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 Ferrara.
9. 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
The route ends here after 337 km.
Leg by leg
Ferrara to Villa Badoer
Ferrara → Villa Badoer is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Badoer to Diamantina
Villa Badoer → Diamantina is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Diamantina to Villa Pisani
Diamantina → Villa Pisani is 74 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Pisani to Villa Pisani Ferri
Villa Pisani → Villa Pisani Ferri is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Pisani Ferri to back through Villa Pisani
Villa Pisani Ferri → back through Villa Pisani is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa Pisani to back through Diamantina
back through Villa Pisani → back through Diamantina is 73 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Diamantina to back through Villa Badoer
back through Diamantina → back through Villa Badoer is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa Badoer to Ferrara
back through Villa Badoer → Ferrara is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Villa Badoer and Villa Pisani · 223 km
- Villa Badoer and Tombola · 276 km