Why this ride
From Padova it runs 98 km to Padova; allow about 1 h 52 of riding. On the way it passes Laghetto della Costa, Villa Saraceno and back through Laghetto della Costa.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles and Villa Saraceno
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 98 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 52
- 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. Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles
Giotto's chapel in Padua is smaller than most people expect, a plain brick hall tucked behind the Arena gardens, and the first surprise is that you are rationed. Visits are timed and short, and groups wait in a climate-controlled room first so that the breath and humidity of too many people do not harm the paint. Then the doors open and the walls turn blue. Around 1305 the banker Enrico Scrovegni commissioned Giotto to cover the whole interior with the lives of Mary and Christ, and what he painted, people with weight, faces with feeling, a sky that behaves like a sky, changed the course of European painting.
Read the complete Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles is where the day begins. Next is Laghetto della Costa.
2. 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 comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa Saraceno.
3. Villa Saraceno
In the countryside south of the Berici Hills, near the village of Agugliaro, Villa Saraceno is one of the simplest and most elegant of Andrea Palladio's villas, built in the mid-sixteenth century for Biagio Saraceno, a Vicentine nobleman. It is a compact building with a classical portico of arches and a triangular pediment, set among farmland, and it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.
Read the complete Villa Saraceno 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 Villa Saraceno. Next is back through Laghetto della Costa.
4. back through 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 through Laghetto della Costa, late in the day. Next is Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles.
5. Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles to Laghetto della Costa
Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles → Laghetto della Costa is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Laghetto della Costa to Villa Saraceno
Laghetto della Costa → Villa Saraceno is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Saraceno to back through Laghetto della Costa
Villa Saraceno → back through Laghetto della Costa is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Laghetto della Costa to Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles
back through Laghetto della Costa → Padua’s fourteenth-century fresco cycles is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.