Why this ride
272 km from Lonigo to Lonigo, about 4 h 56 of riding. On the way it passes City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o, Villa Saraceno, Oratory of St.Michael and Villa Cornaro. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Villa Pisani Ferri and Villa Cornaro
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 272 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 56
- 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. Villa Pisani Ferri
Andrea Palladio was still a young architect, not long out of his training as a stonemason, when the Pisani brothers, members of a powerful Venetian family, asked him to design a country house at Bagnolo, near Lonigo, in the late 1530s or early 1540s. The result, now known as Villa Pisani Ferri, is one of his early villas, a solid, symmetrical house with a grand central hall and a facade facing the river, part of the UNESCO site of the City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto. Visits depend on the owners' arrangements, so check ahead if you hope to go inside.
Read the complete Villa Pisani Ferri write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Pisani Ferri is where the day begins. Next is City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o.
2. City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o
Andrea Palladio was a stonemason from Padua who became the most copied architect in history, and Vicenza is where he did it. Walk the main street, Corso Palladio, and you are moving through his workshop: palace after palace designed for the local nobility in the sixteenth century, with columns, pediments and proportions that ended up on English country houses, American plantation homes and Washington government buildings. The city and the villas scattered across the surrounding countryside were listed together by UNESCO for exactly that reason.
Read the complete City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa Saraceno.
3. 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
about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa Saraceno. Next is Oratory of St.Michael, 35 km on.
4. 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
Oratory of St.Michael, about halfway. Next is Villa Cornaro.
5. 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 sits at 139 km, about halfway. Next is back through Oratory of St.Michael, 34 km on.
6. 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
back through Oratory of St.Michael comes up about 167 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Villa Saraceno.
7. 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
about 200 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Villa Saraceno. Next is back through City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o.
8. back through City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o, late in the day. Next is Villa Pisani Ferri.
9. Villa Pisani Ferri
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa Pisani Ferri 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 272 km.
Leg by leg
Villa Pisani Ferri to City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o
Villa Pisani Ferri → City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o to Villa Saraceno
City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o → Villa Saraceno is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Saraceno to Oratory of St.Michael
Villa Saraceno → Oratory of St.Michael is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Oratory of St.Michael to Villa Cornaro
Oratory of St.Michael → Villa Cornaro is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Cornaro to back through Oratory of St.Michael
Villa Cornaro → back through Oratory of St.Michael is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Oratory of St.Michael to back through Villa Saraceno
back through Oratory of St.Michael → back through Villa Saraceno is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa Saraceno to back through City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o
back through Villa Saraceno → back through City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o to Villa Pisani Ferri
back through City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas o → Villa Pisani Ferri is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
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