ITALIAN MINI BRAKE
Touring by bike is a surprisingly easy way to see the bella bella Venice region.. with plenty time for la dolce vita
WHAT could be better than travelling Venice by boat?
Well, doing it by bike gives the traditional method a run for its money.
The Whereabouts Holidays experience offers eight selfpropelled and cost-effective days at a pace even a relative beginner could safely consider taking on.
For those who like to tick off the cities in their lifelong travelogue, this trip took in seven stops and each Italian destination is well worth pedalling to.
With jaunts of 20 to 40 miles each day – and an option to take public transport if a rest is required – this is an accessible introduction to cycle touring.
The Veneto region, in Italy’s north-eastern corner, is a cultural gem with spectacular rural landscape to complement the historic atmosphere in its towns and cities.
Navigating the cherry orchard pathways between Vicenza and Bassano del Grappa or tracing narrow river paths that link Venice to Chioggia are wondrous and can be done at a pace that even allows for a glass of the fantastic Soave, Prosecco or Bardolino.
Local dishes like the asiago cheese, the dried cod baccala and the plump spaghetti-like bigoli are popular choices in the many restaurants and cafes – where miles cycled cancel out any pangs of conscience over excess.
Our eight-day sojourn began in Vicenza. This small city, a UNESCO world heritage site, is dominated by the architecture of Andrea Palladio and the bell tower of the Piazza dei Signori.
The pavement cafes abounded with people enjoying the Aperol spritz in the evening sunshine – a theme that repeated each evening of our stay, which gave us plenty of time to take a stroll and find a restaurant in each destination. At our hotel, we were introduced to the orange Girolibero’s city bikes that would be our steeds for the week.
The bikes come with a day to day guide for the trip, with detailed notes on each destination and step-by-step navigation. The experience is like a massive treasure hunt but that adds to the fun.
Our first day’s cycling took us the 25 miles to the incredible Bassano del Grappa, with its wooden bridge and famous grappa bars.
We needn’t have worried about the breathtaking mountain backdrop, as the next day’s cycling to Treviso took us along country roads that remained flat until a tricky section at Asolo.
This is where the trump card was played – my girlfriend Johann had a motor-assisted bike, where the extra power clicked in on the 1km ascent.
The terrain after Asolo was dominated by Prosecco vineyards and led to the walled city of Treviso, a gateway to Venice, where canalways and the Riviera Garibaldi offer routes away from the town.
The centre of Treviso, with cobbled streets and many inviting
cafes, is classic Italy and well worth a weekend stay on its own. Our next destination was Mestre, on the edge of Venice, almost 30 miles away.
We followed the course of the River Sile up to Casale before rolling into Piazza Ferretto, in the heart of this small city, where a celebratory Soave was quaffed before the hunt for our hotel began.
After a quick turnaround, we were soon on the bus into Venice, boarding a Vaporetto waterbus that took us down the Grand Canal into St Mark’s Square, to join tourists in one of the world’s most fascinating locations.
A more interesting perspective on Venice came the next morning as we cycled into the city from Mestre. We boarded the large ferry that would take us along the canal Giudecca to Lido before we alighted on the shore of the island, one of two that divide the sea from the Venice lagoon.
Pedalling up the narrow spit of land from Malamocco towards the sleepy island of Pellestrina was like a step back in time, with brightly coloured, rusty fishing boats still dominating the moorings.
Our pedalling done for the day, a ferry we crammed into alongside the workers returning home would take us to Chioggia, “Little Venice”, another city surrounded by water, made all the more interesting for its slightly down-at-heel appearance.
There, we were forced to deal with the “what if …” scenario, as the heavens opened.
Arming ourselves with umbrellas, we took to the cobbled streets to find a hostelry for the evening, juggling the options of seafood with the many pasta variations on offer.
The return of the rain in the morning gave us the choice of ploughing on with the longest day – almost 40 miles to Padua – or jumping on the train. We took the latter option, which gave us an extra morning in Chioggia. Travelling by provincial trains in relatively rural Europe is a joy, so there were no regrets and we hit the ancient and grand city of Padua with rested legs.
With the grand aura of Rome, it is worthy of more than a day trip but we took in the basilica dedicated to St Anthony before having a coffee at historic Caffè Pedrocchi.
From Padua, our next leg was the 35 miles back to Vicenza.
Our route mapped the Bacchiglione river. The bike path passed Villa Rotonda, the most famous Palladian mansion, just before we entered the city to our departure point.