Why this ride
An 85 km round trip from Montebello Vicentino - roughly 1 h 36 in the saddle. On the way it passes Villa Almerico Capra, Villa Forni Cerato and back through Villa Almerico Capra.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Villa Trissino and Villa Forni Cerato
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 85 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 36
- 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 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.
Read the complete Villa Trissino write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
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 Almerico Capra.
2. Villa Almerico Capra
The Villa Almerico Capra, known as La Rotonda, stands on a small hill above Vicenza, and it is one of the most copied buildings in the history of architecture. Andrea Palladio began it in the 1560s for a retired papal official, Paolo Almerico, who wanted a place for entertaining and for looking at the view rather than for farming. The plan is a perfect square, with a round hall under a dome at the centre, and each of the four sides has an identical portico with Ionic columns and a flight of steps, so that the house presents the same face to every direction. The idea was that the building should be an ornament to the landscape, and the landscape an ornament to the house.
Read the complete Villa Almerico Capra write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Villa Almerico Capra comes up about 22 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa Forni Cerato.
3. 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.
Read the complete Villa Forni Cerato write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 41 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa Forni Cerato. Next is back through Villa Almerico Capra.
4. back through Villa Almerico Capra
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa Almerico Capra write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Villa Almerico Capra, late in the day. Next is Villa Trissino.
5. Villa Trissino
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa Trissino write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Villa Trissino. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Villa Trissino to Villa Almerico Capra
Villa Trissino → Villa Almerico Capra is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Almerico Capra to Villa Forni Cerato
Villa Almerico Capra → Villa Forni Cerato is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Forni Cerato to back through Villa Almerico Capra
Villa Forni Cerato → back through Villa Almerico Capra is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa Almerico Capra to Villa Trissino
back through Villa Almerico Capra → Villa Trissino is 22 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.