Why this ride
116 km from Sirmione to Sirmione, about 2 h 32 of riding. On the way it passes Frassino, Villa Serego and back through Frassino. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
San Sivino and Villa Serego
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 116 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 32
- 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. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Frassino.
2. Frassino
Just outside Peschiera del Garda, at the southern tip of the lake, the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Frassino stands among vineyards and fields. According to legend, in 1510 a farmer working in his vineyard was threatened by a snake, prayed to the Virgin and found a small statue of the Madonna in the branches of an ash tree, frassino in Italian. The snake disappeared, and the sanctuary was built on the spot. Today it is a Franciscan church and convent, with a cloister and a collection of votive offerings left by the grateful over the centuries.
Read the complete Frassino write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Frassino comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa Serego.
3. Villa Serego
Andrea Palladio built many villas around the Veneto, but the one at Santa Sofia di Pedemonte, in the Valpolicella just north-west of Verona, is the oddball of the family. Commissioned by Marcantonio Serego in the mid-sixteenth century and never finished, it has none of the smooth classical calm of the Rotonda. Instead its courtyard is lined with giant Ionic columns built up from rough, rusticated blocks of local stone, as if the building were half turning back into the hillside. Only part of the planned design was completed, and the effect is wonderfully strange.
Read the complete Villa Serego write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 61 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa Serego. Next is back through Frassino.
4. back through Frassino
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Frassino write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Frassino, late in the day. Next is San Sivino.
5. 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 at San Sivino. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
San Sivino to Frassino
San Sivino → Frassino is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Frassino to Villa Serego
Frassino → Villa Serego is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Serego to back through Frassino
Villa Serego → back through Frassino is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Frassino to San Sivino
back through Frassino → San Sivino is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.