My Favorite Way to See the Heart of Italy!
Active, sustainable, gourmet e-bike trips in quiet corners of Italy
Who?
Small groups of travelers looking to get off the beaten path! (12 people max)
How much?
Starting at $3,700
How?
E-bikes or regular bikes (hard-core bike experienced NOT needed!)
Italy is the place where I’ve spent the most time abroad – three years as an expat, and countless other trips.
Even after all that time, I’m convinced these TWO trips to Italy’s Marche and Umbria regions are the most unique way to see Italy.
Scroll down for what makes these trips special…
Choose Your Italian Adventure:
The TWO trips we’re hosting in 2026:
A NEW Adventure together!
Cuore Verde
“Green Heart”
NEW DATES: June 28 – July 5, 2026Highlights:
We can’t wait to discover this wild and green region with you! We’ll ride more miles per day on this trip, but Marco tells us the terrain is less rough, so difficulty is similar.
The trip we’ve Loved twice!
Ruralmente
“Rurally”
NEW DATES: September 5 – 12, 2026Highlights:
Ride through the region that’s one of Italy’s best-kept secrets, on a route we’ve tested – twice!
Is this your travel vibe?
Feedback that’s making us tear up… 🥲
“I can’t even remember the last time I felt that powerful and proud. I feel so lucky to have been challenged by this trip!”
“I would 100% recommend this trip to anyone! This trip pushed me out of my comfort zone but I had an amazing time. I would rate the overall experience of this trip A+”
“This trip was life-changing for me. I was looking for a reset, and I 100% got it.”
Can’t wait to meet you!
Meet your hosts:
Hi, I’m Ketti, and he’s my husband, Emanuele! He’s from Milan, and I lived there for 3 years. And even after all that time, we think these trips are the best way to see Italy!
We both speak English and Italian fluently, so you’re never alone. And don’t worry, neither of us were hardcore bikers before these trips – we’re still not! But we LOVE the scenery, relaxing pace, authentic local experiences, and the excuse to spend our vacation days outdoors.
…And Our Local Guide!
We’ve traveled a LOT and we know that a guide can make or break a trip! We’ve know our guide local, Marco, for years.
He’s a certified mountain bike instructor, born and raised in the gorgeous Marche region, he makes a mean espresso even by the side of a river, and he’s passionate about showing visitors overlooked parts of Central Italy.
We keep traveling with him because he and his team are great at what they do!
We did our first e-bike trip with him in 2023, then returned in 2024 with a group of seven Tilted Map readers!
What’s the experience really like?
Here’s what our last group had to say:
(Scroll with the arrows for more!)
“If you really want to see rural Italy in a way that cannot be equaled, you need this trip. Ruralmente allowed me to see beautiful countryside at a pace that was perfect. I always had the assist of the e-bike and occasional stops so that I never felt I was over-challenged or stressed to keep up. This was a fun trip and not a marathon or major physical challenge.”
“From the challenging (good challenging!) terrain for riding a bike, to breathtaking views, this trip was life changing for me. I was looking for a reset, and I 100% got it. This was also my first time in Italy, and I am so grateful the first visit there was THIS trip.”
“I am so glad I was able to join the first ever TiltedMap group trip – Ruralmente. This trip was such an amazing experience and it is thanks to Ketti and Lele’s planning, help and support (both before and during the trip) and just generally being awesome people to be around! This trip was truly a one of a kind experience and it was amazing to be able to explore a less touristy area of Italy…” CONTINUED>>
(2/3) “I really felt like it was totally authentic from the food we ate to the places we visited and the people we met along the way. We packed so much into the week but at the same time were able to really savor each experience. Not to mention the accommodations were all excellent. Our tour guide, Marco, was so knowledgeable and such a great host. He and his team worked so hard to make sure everything was taken care of and that we were all enjoying ourselves – I can’t thank them enough!” CONTINUED>>
(3/3) “The e-bikes are such a blessing! The bikes Marco provided were in pristine condition and were a total pleasure to ride. I am by no means an expert bike rider but found this trip to be surprisingly accessible. It was still challenging at times and definitely took me out of my comfort zone – but that is part of the fun! Thank you Ketti and Lele for putting this trip together.” THE END.
A Little Preview:
Here’s the video of our first ebike trip! Grab a beverage, kick back, and imagine yourself in Italy…
What our trips include:
What’s NOT Included:
Where will we sleep?
We work with Marco to carefully choose each of our accommodations. We’re not aiming for fancy, but lovely, cozy, authentic and 100% local. Here’s what last year’s crew had to say:
“It was fun to be able to stay in a new location every night. Also, outside of sleeping we don’t really spend a lot of time in the rooms anyway. But they were all comfortable and clean and had all of the necessary amenities in my opinion.”
“All of the lodging was great. The final hotel at the beach was amazing, but the farmhouse/winery was a real standout in terms of fitting the theme and being really pleasant. I liked the contrast between the various accommodations. Each one was pleasant and a surprise.”
A few of our B&Bs, hotels & farmstays:
Hotel room at one of the vineyards where we’ve stayed twice.
One of our “agriturismo” (farm house) stays from above – with a pool!
Another room at our vineyard farm stay.
One of the cute little B&Bs where we’ve stayed
A local guest house we stayed at near the beach
And the fancier hotel beach hotel we moved to the next year – Adriatic views!
Swanky hotel bathroom
Gorgeous pool
What will we eat?
Well, I am glad you asked! Marco’s local connections have us eating in amazing restaurants, farmers’ kitchens, and rustic local eateries. Meals include homemade pastas, locally-made cold cuts, local wines, bread, meat (including more exotic dishes like duck and wild boar) and some vegetable dishes. (Meat is a mainstay in Central Italy, where we’re going. We’ve accommodated vegetarians with no problem; for strict vegans, it would be a challenge.)
And be prepared: There will be a LOT of food. We’ve tried to minimize this where we can, but over-serving is a feature of Italian culture, and even more so of central Italy. (I recommend you read this blog post for an idea of the structure of Italian meals.)
“I loved the food and the food culture! Even when eating gluten free I didn’t feel like I missed out on anything because of all the prep that Ketti, Lele, and Marco put into making sure there were gluten free options.”
“Amazing! The stuffed and fried olives. The bread. The salami. I didn’t realize how much food there would be. Breakfast was the most different meal.”
“The aperitivo we shared several nights was outstanding. The seafood meal we shared the last night was really outstanding and I enjoyed that meal thoroughly. Thank you! And, not to be forgotten are the lunches supplied so nicely by Claudio. He was right there with what we all needed.”
“The amount of food exceeded my expectations. But the quality of food was superb, and everything I ate was very tasty.”
Some of our spectacular meals:
Truffle ravioli with parmesan
Vegetable and farro salad
Veggie, meat and cheese appetizers grown and served on a farm
Marco making us coffee in a moka after lunch
Tasting unique, biodynamic wines
Unique, traditional kinds of cold cuts in Marche
Fresh berry dessert
Seafood appetizers to share
Two kinds of pasta served family-style
Bruschetta
Side dish of local legumes
Fresh mozzarella
Homemade tiramisù
Delicious grilled vegetables
Pasta all’Amatriciana, served on a farm
Grilled meats for a second course during a farmhouse lunch
Designed with sustainability in mind in so many ways.
The opposite of over-tourism
We’re visiting rural areas that receive very few tourists – and that actually love taking some away from their over-touristed neighbors like Venice, Florence and Rome. (And most of the places we’ll go are spots non-Italians pretty much always miss.)
100% Local
Our travel budget supports the rural communities we’re visiting. It’s the backbone of sustainable travel! We stay in all locally owned hotels, eat in locals restaurant, and visit local organic farms and artisans.
As I mentioned n our video (at ~ minute 1:35), these are the businesses that let people in these rural areas thrive and keep their unique cultural traditions alive. These people live here, they know the land intimately, and they care about protecting it.
Our guide, Marco, and his wife, Silvia (who does lots of behind-the-scenes work), are both from the region. Their small business is 100% local.
Fewer Cars on the Road
The way I see it, this trip is an alternative to each of us renting a car for a road trip, as most people would.
(We’ll just have one support vehicle moving our luggage from one hotel to the next while we we enjoy a slower pace.)
And hey, if this trip makes you realize you’d like to bike a bit more at home, too, and you could even replace some car trips with bike rides, well then that’ll be a lovely side effect! (That’s what happened to me after my first e-bike trip.)
Domestic Trains instead of Flights
If you don’t live in Europe you’ll probably have to fly to get to Italy. While you could book flights into the airports of Perugia or Ancona, that’s almost guaranteed to add an extra flight to your route.
Instead, we recommend booking your flight into and out of either Milan (MXP or LIN) or Rome (FCO). Those are the two biggest hubs in Italy, so it’s most likely you’ll be able cut out a layover by flying there and continuing by train.
Both Milan and Rome are a 2 to 4 hour train ride from Fabriano, where we’ll start the Marche trip. (And will give you some lovely views!)
TIP: If possible, I’d recommend booking a flight that arrives the night before our first day, staying in a hotel in Milan or Rome for one night, and taking the train the next day.
Funding Carbon Removal & SAF
In 2024, Marco and I donated $60 of every trip registration to Tomorrow’s Air, to fund carbon removal projects and SAF (sustainable aviation fuel). We’re planning to do the same this year because, as an expert in sustainability and climate, I think this is one of the best places to invest for change.
I definitely don’t consider this a carbon offset. It’s not meant to counteract, or offset, the exact amount of emissions from this trip, or from the flight to get there. (There are lot of challenges with thinking we can do that precisely – from how exactly we calculate the emissions, to what price we put on them, to what happens with the money.)
Instead, this donation is about making sure some money goes to the projects that really need to be funded in order to reverse climate change, and to make net-zero aviation a reality.
Yes, we have a lot of work to do to make either of those happen. But as an aeronautical engineer recently told me on the topic: “If you went to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and looked at where we’re at now, everyone would have said it was impossible. It’s not impossible.”
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Planning & Details
Ready to dive in on the details? Check out our relevant articles & Italy travel guides:
