Why this ride
259 km from Cerea to Cerea, about 3 h 50 of riding. It goes by way of Villa Almerico Capra, Villa Foscari and back through Villa Almerico Capra. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Tombola and Villa Foscari
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 259 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 50
- 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. Tombola
In the flat, fertile plain south of Verona, near the town of Cerea, a low rise in the fields called Tombola hides the remains of a Bronze Age settlement. The site is listed among the prehistoric pile dwellings around the Alps, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and it belongs to a group of wetland villages that once stood among the marshes of the Valli Grandi Veronesi, a large area of wetland that was drained and reclaimed over the centuries.
Read the complete Tombola write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tombola is where the day begins. Next is Villa Almerico Capra.
2. Villa Almerico Capra
The Villa Almerico Capra, known as La Rotonda, stands on a small hill above Vicenza, and it is one of the most copied buildings in the history of architecture. Andrea Palladio began it in the 1560s for a retired papal official, Paolo Almerico, who wanted a place for entertaining and for looking at the view rather than for farming. The plan is a perfect square, with a round hall under a dome at the centre, and each of the four sides has an identical portico with Ionic columns and a flight of steps, so that the house presents the same face to every direction. The idea was that the building should be an ornament to the landscape, and the landscape an ornament to the house.
Read the complete Villa Almerico Capra write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Almerico Capra comes up about 65 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa Foscari.
3. Villa Foscari
Locals call it La Malcontenta, the unhappy woman, and the stories about who she was are better than any of them can prove. The legend says a Foscari wife was banished here for her bad behaviour in Venice; the duller truth is that the name probably came from the area or a nearby canal long before the villa existed. Either way, the house Andrea Palladio built for the brothers Nicolò and Alvise Foscari around 1560 is one of his masterpieces, a temple-fronted block raised on a high base above the Brenta canal, looking out over the water like a Roman villa that had wandered down to the lagoon. It forms part of the UNESCO listing of the City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.
Read the complete Villa Foscari write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 126 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa Foscari. Next is back through Villa Almerico Capra.
4. back through Villa Almerico Capra
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa Almerico Capra write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa Almerico Capra, late in the day. Next is Tombola.
5. Tombola
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tombola write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Tombola. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Tombola to Villa Almerico Capra
Tombola → Villa Almerico Capra is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Almerico Capra to Villa Foscari
Villa Almerico Capra → Villa Foscari is 61 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Villa Foscari to back through Villa Almerico Capra
Villa Foscari → back through Villa Almerico Capra is 61 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Villa Almerico Capra to Tombola
back through Villa Almerico Capra → Tombola is 72 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.