Why this ride
A 183 km round trip from Brescia - roughly 4 h 07 in the saddle. It goes by way of Lucone, Frassino, Villa Serego and back through Frassino.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The monumental area with the monastic comp and Villa Serego
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 183 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 07
- 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.
Scenic road chapters
Lake Garda Western Shore and Strada della Forra
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 32 km this is Lake Garda Western Shore and Strada della Forra, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 32 km
- Named road
- Lake Garda Western Shore and Strada della Forra
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The monumental area with the monastic comp
The centre of Brescia holds two thousand years of layered history within a few hundred metres. Along the old Roman main street, the Capitolium temple raised under Vespasian still lifts its columns above the forum, with a Roman theatre beside it, and a short walk away the monastery of San Salvatore and Santa Giulia spreads its cloisters and churches over the site of Roman houses. The monastery was founded in the eighth century by Desiderius, the last king of the Lombards, and his wife Ansa; their daughter Ermengarda, rejected by Charlemagne, is said to have ended her days here.
Read the complete The monumental area with the monastic comp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The monumental area with the monastic comp is where the day begins. Next is Lucone.
2. Lucone
Lucone is a small basin in the green hills of the Valtènesi, just west of Lake Garda, and it is one of the sites in the UNESCO listing of prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps. Once there was a little lake here, and during the Bronze Age people built villages of wooden houses raised on piles along its shore. The lake later turned to marsh and peat, which preserved the timbers, pottery and organic remains in waterlogged conditions for thousands of years. What you see today is a gentle, wooded hollow among vineyards and fields, and you need some imagination; the finds are in the archaeological museum in nearby Gavardo.
Read the complete Lucone write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Lucone comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Frassino.
3. 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
about 63 km into the recorded legs you reach Frassino. Next is Villa Serego.
4. 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
Villa Serego, about halfway. Next is back through Frassino.
5. 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 sits at 109 km, about halfway. Next is back through Lucone.
6. back through Lucone
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Lucone write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Lucone comes up about 153 km into the recorded legs. Next is The monumental area with the monastic comp.
7. The monumental area with the monastic comp
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The monumental area with the monastic comp write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The monumental area with the monastic comp closes the day.
Leg by leg
The monumental area with the monastic comp to Lucone
The monumental area with the monastic comp → Lucone is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Lucone to Frassino
Lucone → Frassino is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Frassino to Villa Serego
Frassino → Villa Serego is 32 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 back through Lucone
back through Frassino → back through Lucone is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Lucone to The monumental area with the monastic comp
back through Lucone → The monumental area with the monastic comp is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.