Why this ride
From Ceggia it runs 318 km to Ceggia; allow about 5 h 37 of riding. The stops in between: Venice and its Lagoon, Villa Cornaro, Oratory of St.Michael and Villa Saraceno. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Villa Zeno and Villa Saraceno
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 318 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 37
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. 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.
Scenic road chapters
Villa Zeno → Venice and its Lagoon
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 51 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 51 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
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 Venice and its Lagoon.
2. Venice and its Lagoon
Venice is the only great city in Europe where your motorcycle is entirely useless. The road ends at Piazzale Roma, at the end of a long bridge across the lagoon, and from there on, everything happens on foot or by boat. The city and its lagoon are listed by UNESCO as a whole, a recognition that the islands, the canals, the salt marshes and the fishing villages form a single living system, shaped by over a thousand years of human effort to keep the sea out and the city afloat.
Read the complete Venice and its Lagoon write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Venice and its Lagoon comes up 41 km in. Next is Villa Cornaro.
3. Villa Cornaro
Piombino Dese is a quiet village on the flat plain between Padua and Treviso, the kind of place you pass through on the way to somewhere else. Stop on the main road, though, and look at the house set back behind its lawn. Villa Cornaro was designed by Andrea Palladio in the early 1550s for Giorgio Cornaro, a member of one of the grandest Venetian families, and its central portico rises in two storeys of columns, one loggia stacked on another like a temple front on a temple front. On the garden side the same double loggia faces a long lawn. It is one of the most copied houses in architectural history, and echoes of it can be seen in country houses across England and in mansions of the American South. The villa is part of the UNESCO site of the City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto, and it opens to visitors on certain days in the warmer months.
Read the complete Villa Cornaro write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
82 km in you reach Villa Cornaro. Next is Oratory of St.Michael, 41 km on.
4. 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
Oratory of St.Michael, about halfway. Next is Villa Saraceno.
5. 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 sits at 164 km, about halfway. Next is back through Oratory of St.Michael, 40 km on.
6. 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
back through Oratory of St.Michael comes up 204 km in. Next is back through Villa Cornaro.
7. back through Villa Cornaro
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Villa Cornaro write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
245 km in you reach back through Villa Cornaro. Next is back through Venice and its Lagoon.
8. back through Venice and its Lagoon
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Venice and its Lagoon write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Venice and its Lagoon, late in the day. Next is Villa Zeno.
9. 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
The route ends here after 318 km.
Leg by leg
Villa Zeno to Venice and its Lagoon
Villa Zeno → Venice and its Lagoon is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Venice and its Lagoon to Villa Cornaro
Venice and its Lagoon → Villa Cornaro is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Cornaro to Oratory of St.Michael
Villa Cornaro → Oratory of St.Michael is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Oratory of St.Michael to Villa Saraceno
Oratory of St.Michael → Villa Saraceno is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Saraceno to back through Oratory of St.Michael
Villa Saraceno → back through Oratory of St.Michael is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Oratory of St.Michael to back through Villa Cornaro
back through Oratory of St.Michael → back through Villa Cornaro is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Villa Cornaro to back through Venice and its Lagoon
back through Villa Cornaro → back through Venice and its Lagoon is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Venice and its Lagoon to Villa Zeno
back through Venice and its Lagoon → Villa Zeno is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Villa Zeno and Villa Angarano · 293 km
- Venice and its Lagoon and Villa Barbaro · 131 km