Why this ride
291 km from Venice to Venice, about 5 h 27 of riding. On the way it passes Villa Cornaro, Oratory of St.Michael, Villa Saraceno and Palazzo de la Ragione Chapel of the Carare. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Venice and its Lagoon and Palazzo de la Ragione Chapel of the Carare
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 291 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 27
- 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
Venice and its Lagoon → Villa Cornaro
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 44 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 44 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Venice and its Lagoon
Venice is the only great city in Europe where your motorcycle is entirely useless. The road ends at Piazzale Roma, at the end of a long bridge across the lagoon, and from there on, everything happens on foot or by boat. The city and its lagoon are listed by UNESCO as a whole, a recognition that the islands, the canals, the salt marshes and the fishing villages form a single living system, shaped by over a thousand years of human effort to keep the sea out and the city afloat.
Read the complete Venice and its Lagoon write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Venice and its Lagoon is where the day begins. Next is Villa Cornaro.
2. Villa Cornaro
Piombino Dese is a quiet village on the flat plain between Padua and Treviso, the kind of place you pass through on the way to somewhere else. Stop on the main road, though, and look at the house set back behind its lawn. Villa Cornaro was designed by Andrea Palladio in the early 1550s for Giorgio Cornaro, a member of one of the grandest Venetian families, and its central portico rises in two storeys of columns, one loggia stacked on another like a temple front on a temple front. On the garden side the same double loggia faces a long lawn. It is one of the most copied houses in architectural history, and echoes of it can be seen in country houses across England and in mansions of the American South. The villa is part of the UNESCO site of the City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto, and it opens to visitors on certain days in the warmer months.
Read the complete Villa Cornaro write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Cornaro comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is Oratory of St.Michael, 37 km on.
3. Oratory of St.Michael
In the old centre of Padua, near the medieval tower that later became an astronomical observatory, a small oratory hides one of the city's quieter treasures. The Oratory of St Michael contains frescoes painted by Jacopo da Verona at the end of the fourteenth century, scenes from the life of the Virgin populated with recognisable citizens of Padua dressed in the fashions of the day. It is one of eight sites inscribed in 2021 as Padua's fourteenth-century fresco cycles, the group that also includes Giotto's Scrovegni Chapel.
Read the complete Oratory of St.Michael write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 78 km into the recorded legs you reach Oratory of St.Michael. Next is Villa Saraceno.
4. Villa Saraceno
In the countryside south of the Berici Hills, near the village of Agugliaro, Villa Saraceno is one of the simplest and most elegant of Andrea Palladio's villas, built in the mid-sixteenth century for Biagio Saraceno, a Vicentine nobleman. It is a compact building with a classical portico of arches and a triangular pediment, set among farmland, and it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.
Read the complete Villa Saraceno write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Saraceno, about halfway. Next is Palazzo de la Ragione Chapel of the Carare.
5. Palazzo de la Ragione Chapel of the Carare
Padua's Palazzo della Ragione is the big hall that sits between the two market squares, Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza della Frutta, and it has done that job since the early thirteenth century, when the city was a self-governing commune and wanted a building big enough for its courts. The enormous upper hall, with a roof shaped like an upturned ship's keel, is said to be one of the largest medieval halls in Europe, its walls covered in astrological frescoes and a giant wooden horse standing at one end. Downstairs the arcades still house butchers, cheesemongers and cafes, which is the best sign that the building has remained a living part of town.
Read the complete Palazzo de la Ragione Chapel of the Carare write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Palazzo de la Ragione Chapel of the Carare sits at 148 km, about halfway. Next is back through Villa Saraceno.
6. back through Villa Saraceno
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa Saraceno write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa Saraceno comes up about 183 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Oratory of St.Michael, 37 km on.
7. back through Oratory of St.Michael
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Oratory of St.Michael write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 218 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Oratory of St.Michael. Next is back through Villa Cornaro.
8. back through Villa Cornaro
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa Cornaro write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa Cornaro, late in the day. Next is Venice and its Lagoon.
9. Venice and its Lagoon
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Venice and its Lagoon 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 291 km.
Leg by leg
Venice and its Lagoon to Villa Cornaro
Venice and its Lagoon → Villa Cornaro is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Cornaro to Oratory of St.Michael
Villa Cornaro → Oratory of St.Michael is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Oratory of St.Michael to Villa Saraceno
Oratory of St.Michael → Villa Saraceno is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Saraceno to Palazzo de la Ragione Chapel of the Carare
Villa Saraceno → Palazzo de la Ragione Chapel of the Carare is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palazzo de la Ragione Chapel of the Carare to back through Villa Saraceno
Palazzo de la Ragione Chapel of the Carare → back through Villa Saraceno is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa Saraceno to back through Oratory of St.Michael
back through Villa Saraceno → back through Oratory of St.Michael is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Oratory of St.Michael to back through Villa Cornaro
back through Oratory of St.Michael → back through Villa Cornaro is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa Cornaro to Venice and its Lagoon
back through Villa Cornaro → Venice and its Lagoon is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.