Matteo Stella arrived in Venice by bike from China in five months.

Before being a mountaineer and an outdoor trekking and mountain bike guide, Matteo Stella, 36 years old, is an extraordinary bike traveler. 2024 he crossed South America by bicycle, pedaling from Bogotá maximum Ushuaia for over 10.000 km in about four months.

His last venture dates back to October 2025, when he decided to retrace Marco Polo's travels along the "Silk Road." He set out from Beijing with a bicycle and the necessary equipment to be as self-sufficient as possible, and after five months of pedaling, he covered over 13,000 kilometers. 

The journey, however, was not without its setbacks. Due to the security situation at the Iranian border, Stella was forced to alter his original route and take a flight to bypass that area, adding hundreds of kilometers to the overall journey. He also faced the freezing Gobi Desert, strong headwinds, torrential rains in the Balkans, and long days of cycling.

The journey took him through 15 countries and some of the most diverse environments on the planet:

• modern China
• the Gobi Desert
• the steppes of Mongolia
• several Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
• the territory of Afghanistan
• then Türkiye, Greece, Albania and finally Italy

Arriving in Venice at the end of February 2026, Matteo Stella didn't stop: he continued pedaling until he reached the Courmayeur area, where he lives and works as a trekking guide and mountain bike instructor. And here's another unique aspect of his story. Matteo has a degree in Political Sciences and began his career working first at European Parliament and then in marketing in Milan. At a certain point, she decided to leave her office career to move to the mountains and dedicate herself fully to the outdoors, planning a long bike trip around the world every year. 

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