Why this ride
From Sabbioneta it runs 258 km to Sabbioneta; allow about 5 h 21 of riding. On the way it passes Lagazzi del Vho, Mantua and Sabbioneta, Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli and San Sivino.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Sabbioneta and San Sivino
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 258 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 21
- 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. Sabbioneta
Sabbioneta is a Renaissance experiment: a whole town built from scratch in the second half of the sixteenth century by Vespasiano Gonzaga, a soldier, scholar and minor prince of the great Mantuan family, who wanted a capital laid out according to the ideals of the age. He got it. Inside its star-shaped walls the streets run in a regular grid, and in a few hundred metres you pass a ducal palace, a long gallery built to show off his collection of ancient sculpture, a summer palace, and one of the earliest purpose-built theatres in Europe, the Teatro all'Antica, designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi. Sabbioneta and Mantua were listed together by UNESCO in 2008 as two contrasting visions of the Renaissance city.
Read the complete Sabbioneta write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Sabbioneta is where the day begins. Next is Lagazzi del Vho.
2. 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 comes up about 25 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mantua and Sabbioneta.
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 66 km into the recorded legs you reach Mantua and Sabbioneta. Next is Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli.
4. Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli
South of Lake Garda, the land rises into a series of low hills, the moraines left behind by the glacier that carved the lake. Among them, in a hollow, lies a small heart-shaped lake, and on a ridge above it stands the walled village of Castellaro Lagusello, one of the most charming in Lombardy. The lake and its marshes are a nature reserve, and on its shore, at Fondo Tacoli, archaeologists found the remains of a Bronze Age pile dwelling settlement, part of the UNESCO group of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps.
Read the complete Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli, about halfway. Next is San Sivino.
5. 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 sits at 125 km, about halfway. Next is back through Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli.
6. back through Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli comes up about 159 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Mantua and Sabbioneta.
7. back through Mantua and Sabbioneta
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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 192 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Mantua and Sabbioneta. Next is back through Lagazzi del Vho.
8. back through 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 through Lagazzi del Vho, late in the day. Next is Sabbioneta.
9. Sabbioneta
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sabbioneta write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 258 km.
Leg by leg
Sabbioneta to Lagazzi del Vho
Sabbioneta → Lagazzi del Vho is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lagazzi del Vho to Mantua and Sabbioneta
Lagazzi del Vho → Mantua and Sabbioneta is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mantua and Sabbioneta to Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli
Mantua and Sabbioneta → Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli to San Sivino
Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli → San Sivino is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
San Sivino to back through Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli
San Sivino → back through Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli to back through Mantua and Sabbioneta
back through Castellaro Lagusello - Fondo Tacoli → back through Mantua and Sabbioneta is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mantua and Sabbioneta to back through Lagazzi del Vho
back through Mantua and Sabbioneta → back through Lagazzi del Vho is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Lagazzi del Vho to Sabbioneta
back through Lagazzi del Vho → Sabbioneta is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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