Discover Riviera del Brenta

The Naviglio del Brenta is not a natural river course. The Brenta was diverted and canalised from the 14th century onward to stop its silt reaching the lagoon, which would have shoaled Venice's own waterways -- so the villas stand along a piece of hydraulic engineering built to protect the city, not along a scenic river that happened to be there.

The land is flat alluvial plain, and the canal is embanked slightly above it, with a towpath on one side. That towpath is now the cycling route, and it is the reason the villas are best seen from the water or the bank rather than from the road, which runs behind them.

The route passes through a chain of small towns -- Malcontenta, Oriago, Mira, Dolo, Stra -- each with its own villas and locks. The locks matter: the canal drops between Padua and the lagoon, and a boat travelling it is raised and lowered several times, which is why the journey takes most of a day rather than an hour.

This is working countryside rather than parkland, and the villas sit among fields, light industry and ordinary Veneto towns -- closer in character to the mainland than to anything in Venice itself.