San Luca and Villa Pisani

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. San Luca

   The Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca sits on the Colle della Guardia, a green hill above Bologna, and what makes it special is the way you reach it. A covered arcade, nearly four kilometres long and with some six hundred and sixty arches, climbs from the edge of the city to the church, built between 1674 and 1793 so pilgrims could carry an icon of the Virgin down into town and back in the rain. It is the longest portico in the world, and it forms part of the arcades of Bologna that UNESCO listed in 2021. The icon, which tradition says was painted by Luke the Evangelist, is taken in procession to the cathedral each May.

   Read the complete San Luca write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   San Luca is where the day begins. Next is Ferrara.

2. 2. Ferrara

   Ferrara is a city built for walking and cycling, with flat streets, a ring of Renaissance walls nine kilometres long, and so many bicycles that it is called the city of bicycles. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, under the Este family, it was one of the great courts of Renaissance Italy, and the Estense castle, with its moat and drawbridges, still dominates the centre. The city's Renaissance planning, especially the Herculean Addition, a new quarter laid out in the late fifteenth century, led historians to call it the first modern city in Europe, and UNESCO has inscribed Ferrara and the Po Delta as a World Heritage Site.

   Read the complete Ferrara write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Ferrara comes up about 52 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa Pisani.

3. 3. Villa Pisani

   Montagnana is one of the best-preserved walled towns in Europe, with its entire ring of medieval brick walls, towers and gates still standing around the old centre, and just outside the eastern gate stands a villa by Andrea Palladio. Villa Pisani at Montagnana, built for Francesco Pisani in the 1550s, is a two-storey palace with a classical façade facing the road, part of the UNESCO listing of the City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto. Unlike most of Palladio's country villas, it sits right at the edge of town, more urban palazzo than farmhouse, and its elegant columns make a striking contrast with the rugged walls nearby.

   Read the complete Villa Pisani write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 121 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa Pisani. Next is back through Ferrara.

4. 4. back through Ferrara

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Ferrara write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   back through Ferrara, late in the day. Next is San Luca.

5. 5. San Luca

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete San Luca write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   Back at San Luca. That is the ride.