Why this ride
A 96 km round trip from Cadrezzate - roughly 2 h 33 in the saddle. On the way it passes Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese, The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c and back through Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Il Sabbione o settentrionale and The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 96 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 33
- 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Il Sabbione o settentrionale
Lake Monate is small, round and remarkably clean, set in the gentle hills of the Varese province between Lake Maggiore and Lake Varese. It has no river flowing into it, being fed by springs, and its water is among the clearest of any lake in Lombardy, which makes it a favourite with swimmers on hot summer days. On its northern shore, near Cadrezzate, the site known as Il Sabbione preserves the remains of a prehistoric village built on piles at the water's edge, part of the UNESCO listing of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps. The Varese area is rich in such sites, and the finds from them, including pottery, tools and the remains of wooden canoes, are displayed in local museums.
Read the complete Il Sabbione o settentrionale write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Il Sabbione o settentrionale is where the day begins. Next is Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese.
2. Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese
Above Varese, on the flank of the Campo dei Fiori, a cobbled path climbs two kilometres or so through woods and past fourteen chapels to a medieval sanctuary and the tiny village of Santa Maria del Monte. Each chapel contains a life-size scene of the mysteries of the Rosary, with painted terracotta figures and frescoed backgrounds, and the whole ensemble, built in the seventeenth century under the architect Giuseppe Bernascone, is one of the nine Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2003.
Read the complete Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c.
3. The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c
The Lombards get a bad press in most history books, which tend to treat them as the barbarians who arrived in Italy in 568 and broke what was left of Roman order. Castelseprio tells a subtler story. On a wooded spur above the Olona valley, north-west of Milan, stand the ruins of a late Roman and Lombard castrum, a fortified town that controlled the road between the plain and the Alpine lakes, and just outside its walls is the little church of Santa Maria foris portas, whose frescoes are among the most mysterious and beautiful paintings of early medieval Europe. Down by the river, the stout stone Torba tower, later part of a Benedictine nunnery, completes the group. Together they form one of the sites in the UNESCO listing of the Lombards in Italy.
Read the complete The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 48 km into the recorded legs you reach The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c. Next is back through Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese.
4. back through Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese, late in the day. Next is Il Sabbione o settentrionale.
5. Il Sabbione o settentrionale
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Il Sabbione o settentrionale write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Il Sabbione o settentrionale. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Il Sabbione o settentrionale to Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese
Il Sabbione o settentrionale → Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese to The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c
Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese → The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c to back through Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese
The castrum with the Torba Tower and the c → back through Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese to Il Sabbione o settentrionale
back through Sacro Monte del Rosario di Varese → Il Sabbione o settentrionale is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.