The “Ciclopista del Brenta” [cycle route of the Brenta River] supposedly connects Lago [Lake] Caldonazzo with the Venice lagoon, but so far the only section that is really well equipped is the bike path through the Valsugana area.

This page, by contrast, is dedicated to the less cycle-friendly section of the bike route, the section between Bassano del Grappa and Padua, but that touches upon places of great interest, the town of Marostica and some famous Venetian villas.

In this area there is no real bike path along the river and therefore the proposed route uses relatively low-traffic side roads.

From Bassano it is worth the effort to leave the Brenta in order to visit Marostica, and its chessboard piazza, which is used every other year, in September, to play the celebrated game of human chess.

From Marostica take the road to Nove, past the bridge over the Brenta and immediately turn right on the road that runs along the left bank of the river. After a few hundred meters you will see on your left the large Villa Morosini, now used as the Cartigliano town hall.

One continues on this road, which initially is quite busy with traffic, successively coming upon the villages of Tezze sul Brenta, S. Croce Bigolina, Fonteniva, S. Giorgio in Brenta and Campo S. Martino; here turn right and take the bridge over the Brenta (very busy with traffic), which brings us to the village of Piazzola sul Brenta, where you will find Villa Contarini, one of the most monumental of the Venetian villas.

From Piazzola sul Brenta take the road to Limena, which is rather busy; in Limena a beautiful “barchessa” has been made into the town hall of this village. After 7 km one will reach Padua and its train station.

[“In the Venetian dialect, a barchessa is an all-purpose farm building, housing plows and other farm equipment, storing grain, and stabling animals.”from Palladian Days, Finding a New Life in a Venetian Country House by Sally Gable. RB]