Lagazzi del Vho and Mantua and Sabbioneta

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Lagazzi del Vho

   Four thousand years ago people built a village on stilts at the edge of a marsh here, and the muck preserved it. The Lagazzi del Vho site, near Piadena in the Po plain, was a Bronze Age settlement raised on wooden piles above a wetland, and thousands of its timbers, pots and tools lay waterlogged in the mud until archaeologists recovered them. It is one of the prehistoric pile dwelling sites around the Alps that UNESCO listed in 2011, and Italy has several. You will not see houses, since the evidence lies buried, but you will see a flat green plain that was once water, and a good museum in the town explains the finds.

   Read the complete Lagazzi del Vho write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Lagazzi del Vho is where the day begins. Next is San Sivino.

2. 2. San Sivino

   On the western shore of Lake Garda, between Manerba and Moniga, the little bay of San Sivino hides something very old under its shallows. People lived here in the Bronze Age in villages built on wooden piles at the water's edge, and the remains of their posts, tools and pottery survive in the mud of the lake. The site is one of the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps that UNESCO listed in 2011, a series of more than a hundred sites spread across six countries. There is nothing to see above the water, but knowing that the shore was settled thousands of years ago adds a quiet depth to an afternoon by the lake.

   Read the complete San Sivino write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   San Sivino comes up about 59 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mantua and Sabbioneta.

3. 3. Mantua and Sabbioneta

   Approach Mantua from the north across the causeway and you see why it was so hard to conquer: the city rises from water on three sides, encircled by lakes formed from the river Mincio, its domes and towers reflected in the still surface. For nearly four centuries it belonged to the Gonzaga family, who turned a marshy town into one of the most brilliant courts of the Renaissance, and Mantua is listed by UNESCO together with Sabbioneta, the small ideal city that a branch of the same family built some thirty kilometres away.

   Read the complete Mantua and Sabbioneta write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 119 km into the recorded legs you reach Mantua and Sabbioneta. Next is back through San Sivino.

4. 4. back through San Sivino

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete San Sivino write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through San Sivino, late in the day. Next is Lagazzi del Vho.

5. 5. Lagazzi del Vho

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Lagazzi del Vho write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Lagazzi del Vho. That is the ride.