Laghetto della Costa and City of Verona

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Laghetto della Costa

   The Euganean Hills rise abruptly from the flat plain south-west of Padua, a cluster of volcanic cones covered in vineyards, chestnut woods and olive groves. Arquà Petrarca, a medieval village on the southern slopes, is where the poet Petrarch spent his last years and died in 1374; his house can still be visited. Close by, in a small hollow between the hills, lies the Laghetto della Costa, a tiny lake that hides a big secret.

   Read the complete Laghetto della Costa write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Laghetto della Costa is where the day begins. Next is Villa Forni Cerato.

2. 2. Villa Forni Cerato

   Not every Palladian villa is a palace. Villa Forni Cerato, in Montecchio Precalcino north of Vicenza, is a small, modest building, a cube with a simple loggia and pediment, built in the mid-sixteenth century for Girolamo Forni, a timber merchant and amateur painter. Its attribution to Palladio has been debated, but it is included in the UNESCO-listed City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto, and its compact harmony shows how Palladio's ideas worked even at a small scale. It is privately owned and not always open, so check before planning a visit.

   Read the complete Villa Forni Cerato write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Villa Forni Cerato comes up about 65 km into the recorded legs. Next is City of Verona.

3. 3. City of Verona

   Verona is where the north of Italy starts to feel like the south, and where history piles up in layers so thick that you trip over them. The Roman amphitheatre, the Arena, still dominates Piazza Bra and still hosts opera in summer, with tens of thousands of people sitting on stone steps two thousand years old. The Adige river swings through town in a double bend, crossed by bridges including the Ponte Pietra, part Roman and rebuilt after the Germans blew it up in 1945. And of course there is Juliet's balcony, which was added to a medieval house in the twentieth century to satisfy visitors searching for the Shakespeare story; people queue to rub the breast of her bronze statue for luck.

   Read the complete City of Verona write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 146 km into the recorded legs you reach City of Verona. Next is back through Villa Forni Cerato.

4. 4. back through Villa Forni Cerato

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Villa Forni Cerato write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Villa Forni Cerato, late in the day. Next is Laghetto della Costa.

5. 5. Laghetto della Costa

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Laghetto della Costa write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at Laghetto della Costa. That is the ride.