Hike and Bike Italy was born in 2001 from the wish of Michela and Giovanni to bring people to discover and really “touch and live” their beautiful and somewhere unexplored territory: the Central Italy.
Their passion and specialty are nature and bike, so the only solution was to offer not ordinary guided tours, but special active holidays.
Bicycle and walking tours, combined with excellent accommodation solutions and enriched by extra experiences such as tastings, workshops or cultural tours, are the result of their original idea, made possible thanks to their skills and deep knowledge of the territory and its opportunities.
During the last two decades the agency has grown, welcoming new staff members and international collaborations. Now the tours go beyond Tuscany and Umbria, covering many interesting spots in Italy, such as Puglia and Sicily in Southern Italy, the Dolomites and the Alps in Northern Italy and also some interesting places in France.
But the aim is still the same of the first year: to offer an authentic and deep discovery of Italy, either from the top of a bike seat, or step by step along beautiful paths.
WE OFFER ....
The soul of the company. A wilderness guide by profession and a passionate walker and leisure cyclist. She often works behind the scenes and takes care of the accommodations, and she occasionally guides too.
I am in my early 50s, a native of Umbria now living in Tuscany. As a bon-vivant and Italian I love good food and wine. I am a wilderness guide with a special interest in the anthropological aspects of flora and fauna. I speak five languages and I love to see the world through a set of handlebars or in my hiking boots. In the past 25 years I have guided adventurers on biking, hiking, expeditions around Europe and North Africa. I am a passionate (slow) swimmer, walker and a (slow) cyclist. I take care of the itineraries and sometimes help our master mechanic on bike maintenance – I will never be able to stay behind a computer. I love guiding, cooking … and eating.
Native of Austria, citizen of Vienna. Started out as an interior designer with interest in languages, who subsequently converted into an outdoor guide as a consequence of jobbing for a bike company in Tuscany. Since then has helped designing trips in Central Europe and Italy. A man of many interests, with a Mexican connection in his family, he is always on the lookout for new horizons.
I have a master degree in History of Art and I am a licensed guide since 2010. I decided to take up this career because I am in love with the country I live in and I really would like the people to perceive the beauty that lies beyond many postcard view. A beauty that is like a kaleidoscope and creates different colourful shades: history, nature, culture, food, people, all mixed up to create a tale that I would like to tell you and that everybody should enjoy. I am pretty confident that you can enjoy this tale at its best while hike and bike, because when you slow down you can feel much more, relax and help your family and friends to feel the greatness and the beauty of the postcards you will write them. And when you are finished writing your postcard you can enjoy a glass of wine, of course.
Francesco Giusti
Tour leader
My name is Francesco, I am an Outdoor Guide. When I was I child I started to walk on mountains and to love the nature; I grew up in the Dolomites of Val di Fiemme and that is where I learned to love the nature and its wealth.Today, my passion became my job and the mountains are my office, the forests are my home and the sea is my hall. I work in Italy and the places where we walk with my groups are Dolomites, Gran Paradiso National Park, Tuscany (Apuane Alps, Appennino, Elba Island, Giglio Island, Maremma, Costa degli Etruschi, Val di Cecina, Valtiberina) and San Francesco Walking Trail, accompanying groups of hikers brings me also outside of Italy so I have been to Canada, Scotland (West Highland Way) and Greece (Karpathos Island).
«The meaning of walking is get in the Nature for me. So I walk slowly, never I run. The Nature is not a gym field. I go to see, to listen and to feel with every the senses. So my soul get in the trees, in the flowers and in the hills. The high mountains are a feeling for me». Reinhold Messner