FROM VALSUGANA TO THE VENETIAN VILLAS OF THE RIVIERA

STAGE 2

(Cittadella - Stra, 47 km)

The itinerary we suggest should be seen as the continuation of the first leg of the Venetian Brenta, which goes from Primolano to Cittadella, coming down from the Levico and Caldonazzo lakes up north. The river Brenta, which is feminine in the local parlance, acts as a common thread for the entire itinerary, almost like a long trail marker. Although some sections of the route are actually still far from the river, the commitment of the local and regional administrations bodes well for the completion of the itinerary in a short time. Another distinctive element of the itinerary is linked to the presence of some patrician villas, among the most imposing and significant in the Veneto region. The Contarini and Pisani families sought to leave the mark of their centuries-old power within the Serenissima Republic of Venice, and public ownership of their properties allows today's travellers to immerse themselves completely into the atmosphere of that time. The itinerary is suited for all skills and is only partly signposted. The regular road grid in the first part of the route, derived from Roman centuriation, makes it possible to find your way again quickly should you miss a turning, as is wholly understandable.

The itinerary starts in the old town of Cittadella, precisely in piazza Pierobon in front of the Cathedral dedicated to the Saints Donatus and Prosdocimus, the town's patron saints. The church holds medieval and renaissance frescoes, including a cycle by Jacopo Bassano. The adjacent museum, recently restored, is also very interesting. Leave the town centre along via Indipendenza, when you come out of the Vicenza Gate immediately turn left into via Riva IV Novembre, riding past the town's ramparts, then turn right into via Verdi and head south until you come to the intersection with via Cà della Nave (km 1.3). Continue left on the cycle path, then take a right, always on the cycle path, along Borgo Padova. A little further on, on the right, you can see the beautiful seventeenth century villa Cà Nave and the oratory dedicated to the Saviour, with late seventeenth-century frescoes attributed to the French painter Louis Dorigny, who lived in Venice and Verona for a long time. Carry on, go through a level crossing, turn right into via Beltramina (km 2.0) and ride on the long straight road until you go under state road SS47, right through the industrial estate. After turning left into via Beltramina sud (km 3.0), the landscape changes and you pedal mainly through the countryside, following the winding road. At the next intersection (km 4.5), turn right into via Vignale then, after a while, turn left into via Capitello, which you follow until the next intersection with viale Borromeo (km 5.4). Here, you come to the fifteenth-century oratory of Santa Maria delle Grazie, which holds important frescoes attributed to young Mantegna, who was born not far from here. Continue on the right, then turn left into via Campanello, which turns into via Bocchiero, until the intersection with the SP27 provincial road (km 9), where you must turn right to get to the bridge on the Brenta of Carturo, a short distance away. Turn left after the bridge onto a dirt track, and you enter the wildest part of the route. Carry on straight for quite a while, then follow via Pastorizia south. At the next intersection, turn left and follow the Brenta, then turn right at km 11.9 onto another dirt track until you get to via Carbogna. Be very careful, as these intersections are between unpaved roads, however, if you miss the turning, never mind, continue along the river and you will find via Carbogna again on the right, at the next intersection after some 800 metres. At the last milestone the road is paved again and it is easier to get your bearings. Do not miss the next turning into via Santa Colomba, which you follow until it merges into the SP 94 provincial road (km 14). Along the route, on the left, you will go past an ancient medieval parish church, formerly dedicated to the Benedictine monk Saint Columbanus, which has been rebuilt several times. On provincial road SP94, you turn left and, shortly after, at the intersection with via Basse, there is a cycle and foot path that continues onto via Garibaldi until km 15.6, where you turn left into via Vittorio Emanuele II. By now you have almost reached the centre of Piazzola sul Brenta: you carry on for a few dozen yards and on the right is a fine cycle path that leads to via Dante, where you turn left. Go past the Cathedral (built in 1914) and you will come out in front of Villa Contarini (km 16.5). The villa stands on the ruins of an ancient castle that was built around AD 1000 by the Del Dente family. In the second half of the seventeenth century, Marco Contarini, Procurator of Saint Mark, whose family had inherited the property, expanded the rural building and turned it into the palace we can see now. The visit to the villa must be booked in advance, while the opening hours of the 45-hectare garden may change according to the season, info www.villacontarini.eu. Go past the main façade of the building and follow via Contarini, turn right at km 16.9 into via Malta (the signs are easy to follow), and continue on the right until via Basse, where you turn left onto the cycle and foot path, then continue on the road and take a sharp turning right at km 18 into via Verdi. The road goes under the Treviso-Ostiglia regional cycle path (obviously there is a connecting ramp), continues south and at the next intersection (km 18.7), it bends left towards the river. After some 300 metres, you turn right onto a rather rough single track, and after one kilometre you come to Via Argine Basso, a pleasant surfaced lane through farmed fields. At the next intersection, you turn left, then right onto via delle Volte, following the signage of the Brenta itinerary which we have already seen before. Continue left on via Argine in a pleasant rural setting until the Vaccarino cemetery, where you turn right on a fine cycle path and quickly reach via Tremignon-Vaccarino. Continue left, then go through SS47 state road at the traffic lights (be very careful), and turn left shortly after into via dei Savonarola (km 23.7), then turn right when you get to the seventeenth century villa Trieste-De Benedetti, which alas can only be seen on the outside. The itinerary continues on a pleasant restricted street, via Monte Grappa, then on a cycle path, and you quickly reach the centre of Limena (km 27.3) and go across the Brentella canal, which was dug in the early 1300s to supply drinking water to the city of Padua. Now you continue on the left along the canal, past the Punta Speron park, then along the river for a short while. At the next bridge, you cross over to the other bank thanks to a very useful cantilever footbridge, and immediately turn right (km 28.2) into the wide unsurfaced cycle and foot path that follows the river for several kilometres until your final destination. The predominant aspect of this part of the itinerary is undoubtedly the naturalistic one, not to mention the fact that you pedal safely in a pleasant and mostly peacefully quiet setting. The setting is urban only when the infrastructure goes past the few towns and villages. That is for instance the case in Mejaniga, where the Muson dei Sassi flows into the Brenta (km 35.8), and less so in Cadoneghe. The cycle path ends in via Noventana (km 45.6), continues towards Stra along via IV Novembre and along via Riviera Naviglio, past the large sluice on the right. Before arriving in front of the new Town Hall of Stra, in via Roma you can glimpse, on the left, over the bridge, the eighteenth-century villa Foscarini Rossi by the famed architects Scamozzi, Contini and Jappelli. Opposite villa Loredan, the Town Hall, you can also take in the view of the celebrated villa Pisani, which started being built in 1721 on a design by Gerolamo Frigimelica and Francesco Maria Preti. The villa houses a national museum with 18th and 19th century artworks and furnishings, has 168 rooms and its gardens cover approximately 14 hectares (info:  www.villapisani.beniculturali.it).