Ferrara and Villa Pisani

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 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. 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. 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. 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 back through Diamantina.

5. 5. 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

   back through Diamantina sits at 143 km, about halfway. Next is back through Villa Badoer.

6. 6. 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 comes up about 256 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ferrara.

7. 7. 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

   Ferrara closes the day.