Villa Valmarana Zen and Villa Zeno

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Villa Valmarana Zen

   Not every Palladian villa sits on a hill with a view. Villa Valmarana at Lisiera lies on the flat Vicentine plain east of the city, among fields of maize and soy, irrigation ditches and poplar rows, and it was built for a family whose wealth came from the land itself. Palladio designed it in the middle of the sixteenth century, and it belongs to the family of villas around Vicenza that UNESCO lists together with his town palaces. The house follows his idea of a working farm dressed as a Roman temple: a central block with a portico, flanked by long service wings, the barchesse, that once held grain, tools and animals.

   Read the complete Villa Valmarana Zen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Villa Valmarana Zen is where the day begins. Next is Villa Foscari.

2. 2. Villa Foscari

   Locals call it La Malcontenta, the unhappy woman, and the stories about who she was are better than any of them can prove. The legend says a Foscari wife was banished here for her bad behaviour in Venice; the duller truth is that the name probably came from the area or a nearby canal long before the villa existed. Either way, the house Andrea Palladio built for the brothers Nicolò and Alvise Foscari around 1560 is one of his masterpieces, a temple-fronted block raised on a high base above the Brenta canal, looking out over the water like a Roman villa that had wandered down to the lagoon. It forms part of the UNESCO listing of the City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.

   Read the complete Villa Foscari write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Villa Foscari comes up about 63 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa Zeno.

3. 3. Villa Zeno

   Andrea Palladio designed Villa Zeno at Cessalto in the middle of the sixteenth century, and it stands among the flat fields of the lower Piave plain, about five kilometres from the little town of Ceggia and not far from the Livenza river. It is one of the villas of the Veneto that were collectively inscribed on the World Heritage list, and it is quite different from the grand Palladian pieces near Vicenza: an agricultural house, plain and practical, with a broad central block and a pair of long service wings.

   Read the complete Villa Zeno write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 115 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa Zeno. Next is back through Villa Foscari.

4. 4. back through Villa Foscari

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Villa Foscari write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Villa Foscari, late in the day. Next is Villa Valmarana Zen.

5. 5. Villa Valmarana Zen

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Villa Valmarana Zen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Villa Valmarana Zen. That is the ride.