Girolibero

History

We have been running cycling tours since 1998. Our first step was purchasing 24 bikes and 24 locks. Next came a trailer on loan from a theatre group, with which we toured Austria, Holland and Germany. After 4 years, our first bikes were sold off to a rental company in Berlin; by then, hopelessly hooked on Europe's bikeways, we decided to go for it and invest in new ones – bright orange this time, in honour of Holland, the homeland of cycling.

Our bright two-wheelers have come a long way since then, and we currently have 2,000 of them and 200 e-bikes freewheeling out and about. Girolibero is now the principal Italian tour operator specialising in cycling holidays and offering over 200 itineraries worldwide in its brochure. We organise bike tours for thousands of Italians and we bring over to Italy just as many visitors to enjoy our cycling holidays.

The Girolibero style

Easy cycling holidays: we simply believe that cycling makes for a great holiday, and that a rewarding break requires a thirst for discovery, a pinch of initiative and the right dose of comfort. Bikes let you travel at an easy pace, whether along cycling tracks or quiet roads, keeping you in touch with nature and allowing you to appreciate the people you come across as you cycle through the villages, and appreciate their way of life.

A holiday on the move, with everything organised for you: hotels, luggage transfer from hotel to hotel and support – 7 days a week. Plus: cycling guides and ample background information if you choose to pedal independently, and even the option of an expert tour leader to guide you all the way.

"Bike & Hotel", "Bike & Boat", "Bike & Family": plenty of itineraries for all, from beginners to experienced cyclists.

Original Tours

These tours are 100% created, organised and managed by our team, thus providing the best price-quality relationship!

For this tours, we:

• handpick your hotels
• design your tour, each step of the way
• answer your emails and calls in English, German, French or Italian
• provide multilingual tour info and assistance
• select and train our own tour leaders
• create a series of tailor-made guidebooks, Girolibero Greens – detailed, illustrated and designed for our cycling itineraries
• coordinate all the logistics from our offices
• assemble and service your bike in our workshop, down to the last bolt

Projects past and present

• 1998, a personal bet, a project for a lifetime: turning our passion into a fulfilling job. Well, we made it – and our mission now is to keep alive the passion that propelled us from the start, ensuring that the job is as enjoyable and rewarding for the most recent recruit, as it has been for us.
• 1999, after a long gestation, our first website went live featuring active holidays in Italy. Viewing it now brings tears of laughter and nostalgia to our eyes, but at the time we were absolutely convinced that the marketing of our product would remain within the realms of envelopes and stamps.
• 2002, “Peschiera-Mantova Bikeway”. There used to be a thousand different itineraries. After trying them all out, we settled for a single, ideal route, and were confident enough to print it on 100,000 leaflets [link]. Our chosen itinerary has now become the official one.
• 2003, we designed the Tour of the Venice Lands, our first pioneering tour in Italy: a 7-day discovery of the most beautiful towns of the Veneto, on two wheels. 24 clients travelled with us that year; the numbers now exceed 2,000. Our own itinerary has been published by Esterbauer (in their Bikeline series) and made official by the Veneto Regional Council. It is shortly due to be signposted.
• 2006, launch of the www.pedalitalia.it website, commissioned by the Tuscany Regional Council along with 8 other Italian regions. The aim was to create an online portal for all cycling-related publications, but the project has unfortunately ground to a halt. The site is still up and running, however, with some 60 useful pages of tips and tricks on cycling tours. (link).
• 2008, we ship the "Bike & Boat" formula over to Italy – quite literally. There were no suitable boats available here for this type of holiday, and we decided to buy and transport the Vita Pugna (link) barge over from Holland. Her voyage via the Rhine, Danube, Black Sea and Adriatic has been narrated in a Dutch book (link). Back in Italy, the memory we cherish most of that adventure is that look of trepidation on Captain Lambert's face: having survived high seas and fierce customs officials, he almost witnessed our Vita Pugna going under among the sandbanks of the Po di Pila.
• 2011, “Bike & Boat” in Italy, Phase 2. To Vita Pugna, an adorable baby sister. We acquired an old river dredger, gave it a complete refit to our own specification and, 15 months later, launched the Ave Maria (link): a brand new floating 4-star hotel, offering all mod cons. This was a bold move – not least a financial one, made possible thanks to Banca Etica (the Ethical Bank), the only institution prepared to believe in our project and believe in our travel philosophy: Slow is Good.

Responsible travel

Anyone like us who loves discovering the world at an easy pace, would most likely show, within their DNA, an instinctive respect for the environment, for other people and for their culture. In our case this translates into a policy of contributing as positively as possible to the communities hosting our groups, a low-impact carbon footprint for our tours and sustainable transport (including car sharing whenever viable). It goes without saying that we recycle as much as possible, minimise wastage and urge our clients to do so as well. Subscribing to AITR (Associazione Italiana Turismo Responsabile) and supporting FIAB (Federazione Italiana Amici della Bicicletta) comes as second nature to us.

On a more tangible level, we have stayed true to our 2001 commitment to donate 1% of our salaries to Mani Tese, (Hands Outstretched), one of Italy's most established humanitarian charities, contributing to micro-projects in developing countries, particularly those linked to tourism. Other beneficiaries include Doctors with Africa CUAMM, Emergency and ViaFirenze21, a local charity for the disadvantaged in Vicenza.

Since our birth we have worked closely with Banca Etica, a financial institution which we believe is genuinely committed to improving ethical standards within the world of finance.
We have now become shareholding partners and are proud to promote Banca Etica: in accordance with the Third Basel Accord and with Bank of Italy regulations, the higher the subscriptions to the institution's joint stock, the better it is placed to grant investment loans. Essentially, every €30 share that it sells enables the bank to lend an extra €400 to carefully vetted organisations and projects.

Company registration

GIROLIBERO S.R.L.

exerts the activity as travel agency and tour operator in:

Via Conforto da Costozza, 7

Vicenza, Italy

+39 0444 1278.400 | fax +39 0444 1278.939

info@girolibero.com

Fiscal Code 03794470249

Registred with no. VI-354659 at the companies registration list in Vicenza.
Aut. Amm. of the province of Vicenza n° 51623 of 30.07.2015

Insurance guarantees:

• UnipolSai Assicurazioni n: 1/39383/319/165733443
• UnipolSai Assicurazioni n: 1/39383/319/165733493

Travel guarantee fund n. 2021/1-4059 by Il Salvagente Soc. Coop. a r.l., Corso Regio Parco 15, Turin (www.ilsalvagente.info).