Centro Route · Brescia Variant (Variante Bresciana)
Stage V2 · Cremona → Piacenza
- Distance
- 45 km
- Elevation gain
- 20 m D+
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Surface
- 97% asphalt, 3% gravel · 71% on cycle routes
- Terrain
- Po Plain, Po River
- Cycle path
- Po Cycle Path
- Hospitality
- Hotels
GPX 1.1 file with the track, elevation and the abbeys as waypoints. Tracks are calculated on real roads and cycle routes (OpenStreetMap): check them on the ground before you set off.
Gravel variant: 49 km · D+ 20 m · 20% unpaved (main track: 3%)
Calculated with a profile that prefers gravel roads and dirt tracks (BRouter on OpenStreetMap data): more natural surface and less traffic, sometimes slower. Check it on the ground, especially after rain.
Stage map
Map of the stage Cremona → Piacenza: track, start, finish, places to stay and abbeys
Hover the profile to see the spot on the map
Tracks calculated on real roads and cycle paths (OpenStreetMap); elevations from SRTM data — to be checked on the ground
This stage on Komoot
The same track is on the project's Komoot profile: save it in the app and ride it with voice navigation.
Overview
Second stage of the Variante Bresciana: from Cremona to Piacenza along the embankments of the great river. The route follows the Po Cycle Route (VenTo) among floodplains, poplar groves and riverside villages, rejoining the main line in Piacenza.
Notes from the road
Cremona falls slowly behind the embankments, the Po the only horizon for hours. Wind decides the day's rhythm more than leg strength. Filling bottles in Cremona stays useful, the embankments offer neither shade nor always a bar. The iron bridge at Castelvetro is a piece of nineteenth-century engineering. Crossing it by bike on the dedicated walkway gives a moment suspended over the water.
What to see
Torrazzo of Cremona, embankments and floodplains of the Po, poplar groves and oxbow lakes, Monticelli d'Ongina with its fortress, Isola Serafini with the great navigation lock, Piacenza with Piazza Cavalli
Where to sleep
Piacenza: hotels in the centre (70-100€), B&Bs (55-85€); riverside agriturismo along the Po (50-75€)
Where to eat
Pisarei e fasö, tortelli con la coda, coppa piacentina DOP, stewed eel from the Po villages, Gutturnio
Tips
A very easy stage but shadeless on the embankments: start early in summer and carry water. A headwind can slow you badly. VenTo signage is reliable. Some stretches of the VENTO cycle route are still under construction in 2026: allow for a few detours on the road.
Water & supplies
Full services in Cremona at the start; along the Po embankment the villages are small, with Monticelli d'Ongina at two-thirds distance. Windy, shadeless levee stretches, up to 20 km between bars. Carry plenty of water in summer; mosquitoes at dusk.
Places to stay on this stage
No places listed for this stage yet: the overnight network is a work in progress.
An amateur, non-profit project. The tracks are indicative: everyone rides independently, at their own risk.