Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of t and Castello di Racconigi · 334 km from Genoa

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of t

   Genoa never tried to be pretty in the way Florence or Venice did. It tried to be rich, and succeeded, and the Strade Nuove, the new streets laid out in the sixteenth century, are the proof. The city's banking families, who financed the Spanish crown for decades, built palaces along Via Garibaldi, Via Balbi and Via Cairoli, and they did it on a steep, crowded slope where there was no room for gardens, so the grandeur is stacked into courtyards, loggias and monumental staircases. The palaces were registered in the Rolli, official lists that told the republic which houses should host visiting kings and cardinals, a bit like a medieval hotel guide for diplomats. UNESCO listed the system in 2006.

   Read the complete Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of t write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of t is where the day begins. Next is Canelli and Asti Spumante.

2. 2. Canelli and Asti Spumante

   Under the streets of Canelli runs a second town, made of brick tunnels and vaulted galleries cut into the hillside, where for well over a century sparkling wine has rested in the cool and the dark. The locals call them the underground cathedrals, and they are the reason this small Piedmontese town is part of the UNESCO listing of the vineyard landscapes of Langhe-Roero and Monferrato. Canelli was one of the places where Italian sparkling wine was pioneered in the nineteenth century, using the local Moscato grape, and the town's big wine houses still welcome visitors into their cellars by appointment.

   Read the complete Canelli and Asti Spumante write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Canelli and Asti Spumante comes up about 97 km into the recorded legs. Next is Castello di Racconigi.

3. 3. 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.

   Read the complete Castello di Racconigi write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 167 km into the recorded legs you reach Castello di Racconigi. Next is back through Canelli and Asti Spumante.

4. 4. back through Canelli and Asti Spumante

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Canelli and Asti Spumante write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Canelli and Asti Spumante, late in the day. Next is Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of t.

5. 5. Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of t

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of t write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of t. That is the ride.