Villa Zeno and Villa Barbaro starting at Ceggia

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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

   Villa Zeno 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 52 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa Barbaro.

3. 3. Villa Barbaro

   At the foot of the Asolo hills, near the village of Maser, a long, golden villa looks out over the plain with the mountains behind it. Villa Barbaro was designed by Andrea Palladio in the 1550s for the brothers Daniele and Marcantonio Barbaro, cultivated Venetian patricians, and it is one of his most perfect works, combining a central house like a temple with long arcaded wings for farm buildings. Inside, the rooms are covered with frescoes by Paolo Veronese, among the finest of the Venetian Renaissance: painted landscapes, mythological figures and trompe l'oeil doors with servants peeping through, a game of illusion that still surprises visitors. Behind the villa, a nymphaeum with statues and a pool sits against the hillside, and nearby stands the Tempietto, a small round church also designed by Palladio. The villa is part of the UNESCO site of the City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto, and it remains a working estate producing wine.

   Read the complete Villa Barbaro write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

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

   Planning note

   about 121 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa Barbaro. 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 Zeno.

5. 5. Villa Zeno

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   Back at Villa Zeno. That is the ride.