Why this ride
A 186 km round trip from Noventa Vicentina - roughly 3 h 24 in the saddle. On the way it passes Laghetto della Costa, Oratory of St.Michael, Villa Chiericati and Villa Valmarana Bressan.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Villa Saraceno and Villa Valmarana Bressan
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 186 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 24
- 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 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 is where the day begins. Next is Laghetto della Costa.
2. Laghetto della Costa
The Euganean Hills rise abruptly from the flat plain south-west of Padua, a cluster of volcanic cones covered in vineyards, chestnut woods and olive groves. Arquà Petrarca, a medieval village on the southern slopes, is where the poet Petrarch spent his last years and died in 1374; his house can still be visited. Close by, in a small hollow between the hills, lies the Laghetto della Costa, a tiny lake that hides a big secret.
Read the complete Laghetto della Costa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Laghetto della Costa comes up about 24 km into the recorded legs. Next is Oratory of St.Michael, 22 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 44 km into the recorded legs you reach Oratory of St.Michael. Next is Villa Chiericati.
4. Villa Chiericati
Villa Chiericati stands in the flat countryside east of Vicenza, at Vancimuglio near Grumolo delle Abbadesse, a cube of pale plaster with a deep, columned portico that looks as if a Roman temple has been grafted onto a farmhouse. That is precisely what Palladio intended. Designed in the 1550s for Giovanni Chiericati, it is often cited as one of the first villas in which he gave the main façade a full temple front, an idea he would repeat, refine and make famous, and which architects copied for centuries afterwards, from English country houses to the American South. Like the other Palladian villas of the Veneto, it is part of the UNESCO site that includes the city of Vicenza.
Read the complete Villa Chiericati write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Chiericati, about halfway. Next is Villa Valmarana Bressan.
5. Villa Valmarana Bressan
Palladio had a way of making a house look like a temple, and his clients were happy to pay for it. Andrea Palladio, born in Padua in 1508 and trained in Vicenza as a stonemason, designed dozens of villas for the landowners of the Veneto, using the proportions of ancient Rome to give their country houses a sense of order and dignity. The Villa Valmarana, at Monticello Conte Otto, just north of Vicenza, dates from the middle of the sixteenth century and is one of the buildings that UNESCO lists with the city of Vicenza and the Palladian villas of the Veneto. It stands in a field, with a pedimented front and neat flanks, and the loggia is the sort of space that makes you want to sit down and read.
Read the complete Villa Valmarana Bressan write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Valmarana Bressan sits at 89 km, about halfway. Next is back through Villa Chiericati.
6. back through Villa Chiericati
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa Chiericati write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa Chiericati comes up about 112 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Oratory of St.Michael, 22 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 139 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Oratory of St.Michael. Next is back through Laghetto della Costa.
8. back through Laghetto della Costa
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Laghetto della Costa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Laghetto della Costa, late in the day. Next is Villa Saraceno.
9. 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
The route ends here after 186 km.
Leg by leg
Villa Saraceno to Laghetto della Costa
Villa Saraceno → Laghetto della Costa is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Laghetto della Costa to Oratory of St.Michael
Laghetto della Costa → Oratory of St.Michael is 20 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Oratory of St.Michael to Villa Chiericati
Oratory of St.Michael → Villa Chiericati is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Chiericati to Villa Valmarana Bressan
Villa Chiericati → Villa Valmarana Bressan is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Valmarana Bressan to back through Villa Chiericati
Villa Valmarana Bressan → back through Villa Chiericati is 21 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa Chiericati to back through Oratory of St.Michael
back through Villa Chiericati → back through Oratory of St.Michael is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Oratory of St.Michael to back through Laghetto della Costa
back through Oratory of St.Michael → back through Laghetto della Costa is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Laghetto della Costa to Villa Saraceno
back through Laghetto della Costa → Villa Saraceno is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.