Villa Trissino and Pale di San Martino San Lucano - Dolomiti
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
419 km
Riding-time estimate
7 h 29
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.
From Montebello Vicentino it runs 419 km to Montebello Vicentino; allow about 7 h 29 of riding. On the way it passes Villa Forni Cerato, Villa Emo, Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Va and Pale di San Martino San Lucano - Dolomiti. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,700 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Villa Trissino
A Palladio villa that was never finished can be more interesting than one that was. At Meledo, a hamlet in the municipality of Sarego south of Vicenza, Andrea Palladio drew up grand plans for the Trissino brothers in the mid-sixteenth century: a central block topped by a dome, with long curved colonnades stretching out like arms toward the river. Only a fragment was built, and what you see today is a modest farm building and some remains incorporated into later structures. Yet the design, published in Palladio's Four Books of Architecture, became one of his most influential, and the site is part of the UNESCO listing of the City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Trissino is where the day begins. Next is Villa Forni Cerato.
2. Villa Forni Cerato
Not every Palladian villa is a palace. Villa Forni Cerato, in Montecchio Precalcino north of Vicenza, is a small, modest building, a cube with a simple loggia and pediment, built in the mid-sixteenth century for Girolamo Forni, a timber merchant and amateur painter. Its attribution to Palladio has been debated, but it is included in the UNESCO-listed City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto, and its compact harmony shows how Palladio's ideas worked even at a small scale. It is privately owned and not always open, so check before planning a visit.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Forni Cerato comes up about 47 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa Emo.
3. Villa Emo
Andrea Palladio built villas for the Venetian nobility as working farms, not just as country houses, and Villa Emo at Fanzolo is perhaps the purest example of that idea. Completed around 1560 for the Emo family, it stands at the centre of a flat, fertile estate, with a long, symmetrical central block flanked by two arcaded wings, the barchesse, which housed the farm buildings, storage and dovecotes. The ramp leading up to the front door was used for threshing grain. Inside, the rooms are decorated with frescoes by Giovanni Battista Zelotti, mythological and allegorical scenes that bring colour and life to the classical architecture. The villa is part of the UNESCO listing of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 95 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa Emo. Next is Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Va.
4. Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Va
These are not soft, rolling wine hills. Between Conegliano and Valdobbiadene, the foothills of the Pre-Alps rise in steep hogback ridges, sharp crests of rock running east to west, with vines clinging to slopes so steep that much of the work is still done by hand. Grass-covered terraces called ciglioni hold the soil in place, and the result is a patchwork of vines, woods and small villages that UNESCO listed in 2019.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Va, about halfway. Next is Pale di San Martino San Lucano - Dolomiti.
5. Pale di San Martino San Lucano - Dolomiti
The Val di San Lucano is a deep, shadowed gash in the southern Dolomites, and the point here lies near Rivamonte and Voltago, in the Agordino, the upper valley of the Cordevole river. The big, pale walls on either side belong to the Pale di San Martino group, one of the nine sets of mountains included in the Dolomites World Heritage listing of 2009, and their sheer rock faces rise more than a thousand metres above the narrow valley floor.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 419 km.
Leg by leg
Villa Trissino to Villa Forni Cerato
Villa Trissino → Villa Forni Cerato is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Forni Cerato to Villa Emo
Villa Forni Cerato → Villa Emo is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Emo to Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Va
Villa Emo → Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Va is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Va to Pale di San Martino San Lucano - Dolomiti
Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Va → Pale di San Martino San Lucano - Dolomiti is 69 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pale di San Martino San Lucano - Dolomiti to back through Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Va
Pale di San Martino San Lucano - Dolomiti → back through Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Va is 67 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Va to back through Villa Emo
back through Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Va → back through Villa Emo is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa Emo to back through Villa Forni Cerato
back through Villa Emo → back through Villa Forni Cerato is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa Forni Cerato to Villa Trissino
back through Villa Forni Cerato → Villa Trissino is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.