Why this ride
A 90 km round trip from Poggio A Caiano - roughly 2 h 18 in the saddle. On the way it passes Villa de Castello, Villa de Il Trebbio and back through Villa de Castello. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Villa de Poggio a Caiano and Villa de Il Trebbio
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 90 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 18
- 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
Chiantigiana Wine Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 18 km this is Chiantigiana Wine Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 18 km
- Named road
- Chiantigiana Wine Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Villa de Poggio a Caiano
Of all the Medici villas, Poggio a Caiano is the one that changed architecture. Lorenzo the Magnificent commissioned it from Giuliano da Sangallo in the 1480s, and the result was something new: a country house raised on an arcaded platform, with a portico topped by a classical pediment, the first time a temple front had been put on a private villa since antiquity. Palladio would develop the idea in the Veneto decades later. Inside, the great hall is decorated with frescoes by Andrea del Sarto, Pontormo and others, and Pontormo's lunette of Vertumnus and Pomona, with its lazy figures lounging on a wall, is one of the most charming paintings of the Renaissance. The villa is part of the UNESCO listing of the Medici Villas and Gardens in Tuscany.
Read the complete Villa de Poggio a Caiano write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa de Poggio a Caiano is where the day begins. Next is Villa de Castello.
2. Villa de Castello
The Villa di Castello stands on the north-western edge of Florence, in the flat land below Monte Morello, and the huge city has grown right up to its gates. Sesto Fiorentino, a town of forty-five thousand people, is three kilometres away, and the centre of Florence a few more. The villa is one of the Medici villas that UNESCO inscribed in 2013, and it is an unusual one, because the garden is the main attraction and the house inside is plain.
Read the complete Villa de Castello write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa de Castello comes up about 18 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa de Il Trebbio.
3. Villa de Il Trebbio
The Medici came from the Mugello, and Il Trebbio is one of the places where you can see it. The family's rise to Florentine power in the fifteenth century began in these hills north of the city, among farms and woods where they held land long before they held banks and palaces. Il Trebbio is a fortified villa near San Piero a Sieve, redesigned for Cosimo the Elder by the architect Michelozzo, and its crenellated walls, tower and gardens mark it as a country retreat that is also, quietly, a statement of status. It is one of the Medici villas listed by UNESCO in 2013.
Read the complete Villa de Il Trebbio write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 42 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa de Il Trebbio. Next is back through Villa de Castello.
4. back through Villa de Castello
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa de Castello write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa de Castello, late in the day. Next is Villa de Poggio a Caiano.
5. Villa de Poggio a Caiano
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa de Poggio a Caiano write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Villa de Poggio a Caiano. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Villa de Poggio a Caiano to Villa de Castello
Villa de Poggio a Caiano → Villa de Castello is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Castello to Villa de Il Trebbio
Villa de Castello → Villa de Il Trebbio is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa de Il Trebbio to back through Villa de Castello
Villa de Il Trebbio → back through Villa de Castello is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa de Castello to Villa de Poggio a Caiano
back through Villa de Castello → Villa de Poggio a Caiano is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.