Maurizio Anzellotti
An expert tour guide with 25 years experience in leading and organizing excursions. An alpinist, ski alpinist and mountain biker he qualified mountain biking & off track cycling instructor in 2002. An environmentalist who supports sustainable rural tourism and its activities e.g. bird watching and orienteering. He has an extensive territorial knowledge and his tours specialise in archaeology, history, geology, botany and, in particular wild orchids. Able to maintain and mend mountain bikes and bikes in general....you never know.

Giuseppe Bolognese
………..if you want to discover the Alta Murgia National Park with your senses and share your feelings, surprise, amazement he is the guide for you.

Marino Caringella
I have chosen to become a professional rural guide because anytime is like the first time: I am always stunned by the sight of a falcon floating in the air as if pulled by an invisibile string, by an overseas blue butterfly resting on a thistle flower or by a tiny wild orchid that seems to have been cut out from a velvet sheet. In this dry and stony land the rocks emerge from the sunburnt soil and crack into small stones which are picked up,then lined up in layers to make up miles of dry stone walls and solitary farmyards (jazzi). In this land where at times a flock of sheep is your only company I enjoy lying down in the shade of a fig tree and listening to thousands of grasshoppers chirping. In this land I feed my soul and I am sure it was the best choice I have ever made.

Irene Chierico
I'm from Altamura,so I'm a local here. I'm graduated in Natural Conservation and I'm currently doing a PhD in Cultural and Environmental Heritage at the University of Salento in Lecce. I started working as a rural guide leading excursions in Puglia while I was at university because I love meeting people from everywhere. I worked as a researcher and a museum guide at the Domus de l’Hombre Museum in Galicia (Spain). I'm a professional and enthusiastic speleologist too. I always try to communicate to visitors the deep feelings that the beauties of this park can raise and help them, through my knowledge and expertise, to experience the past with all the signs of that ancient shepherd's life that is still witnessed today by the rural architecture and our greatest heritage.

Giovanni Dambrosio
Mountain biking instructor, off track biker and member of the National Athletics Association (FCI-CONI). Expert in leading and organizing mountain biking excursions, he will lead you along the park tracks pointing to the most interesting naturalistic and archeological heritage site. He has organized a few sport and cultural events in the park and has led professional bikers. Giovanni is also a cycling and PE teacher in state public schools. He is able to operate in any conditions across the park.

Nicola Delle Grazie
A few years ago I joined a professional training course in Social and Sustainable Tourism. I really wanted to turn my passion for nature and wildlife into a profession. The Alta Murgia National park is just the right place where I can enjoy working in a natural enviroment with its amazing bio-diversity. I organize trekking excursions for school, disabled and elderly groups. I will be pleased to lead you across the park and share with you unforgettable, lovely days outdoors.

Diego Cantatore
I'm an environmental guide who is so passionate about nature and excursions, especially in the Alta Murgia National park, that I took a specializing course in tour guiding & sustainable tourism some time ago. Every season in the park is different and unique, so come anytime throughout the year. School groups, disabled and elderly visitors are welcome. I will be glad to lead you through the park and show you the wonders that it has to offer.

Michele D’Introno
Hi everyone!I'm a tour guide and an environmentalist. I qualified in Social and Sustainable tourism and I work to protect and promote the environmental heritage in Apulia, in particular to make the park accessible to all visitors including disabled and vulnerable people. The Alta Murgia National park is a place out of time: throughout the year and any time during the day you can enjoy the enchanting atmosphere of the shady woodlands. Walking along the canyons locally called "lame" and across the fairies' linen (stipa Tortilis) and asphodel fields that make the place so like a steppe. It will be my pleasure to accompany you and help you to discover a fascinating and mysterious place beyond any expectations.

Giuseppe Giglio
A biologist and an ecologist who works as an environment & habitat conservation consultant. He is also specialised in ornithology. Expert in the fauna he researches the indigenous falcon species classified as "Falco Naumanni" (called "falco grillaio" in the local language) and works for the protection and conservation of falcons' nesting sites in the old towns of the Alta Murgia region. He is a strong activist and volunteer of the LIPU association of Gravina. As a teacher of Environmental education he has worked with schools and students at all levels for over ten years. A rural guide with experience in leading excursionists following the European Union regulations concerning the environment protection in Europe (Nature 2000 European Forum). Expert in the local flora and fauna of the park, he is totally at home in the park sections around the towns of Gravina, Poggiorsini and Spinazzola. Good English.

Salvatore Inguscio
I'm a naturalist and a speleologist. I have been working as a rural guide with excursionists for a long time and have often led visitors into the underground canyons. I'm not usually a great orator but, when it comes to talk about this land I suddenly open up and become a speaker. That is because I love this place where I belong. I live here and know the landscape but everyday I experience something new that amazes and fascinates me. I started studying the park plants and the animals when I was at university long time ago and I haven't stop since. Going on site, reading, workshops, forums are crucial to be a professional guide and to develop. I think I can learn from every tour I do and from the people are walking along across the park. Apulia, a stony and dry land on the surface, hides a stream of water underneath. Someone says I am just like that too.

Pietro Lattarulo
A rural guide since 2002 he has worked with school groups, excursionists and amateurs who want to discover the Southern Italian landscape. He has taught and organized training courses in Environmental & Natural Science Education and in particular in the area of the rock formation through karst phenomena. By organizing a series of fun activities for children and young people he has managed to involve local schools and their students in canyons explorations and great adventures in the underground hoping to raise awareness of the younger generation on the natural heritage conservation issues. Being a Speleologist and an ex member of the Alpine First Aid team helped him to run the activity safely. He is an orienteering specialist and recently has qualified as Federal Orienteering Instructor awarded by the National Federal Organization F.I.S.O. thanks to a number of sport events he took part to and previous working experience in organizing orienteering sessions for local state public schools. Recently he has also started working in map drawing.

Vito Lombardi
A science teacher at the Agriculture & Environment course at a secondary school in Terlizzi. He has a degree in Forestry and works as a freelance forestry consultant and researcher. He is studying new ways to enhance and preserve the forests. For over 20 years he has been involved in Environmental Education projects and has worked as a guide for school groups at all levels.

Domenico Lorusso
I have been working in Environmental Education since 1989. I have organized workshops and guided tours in the area of the Alta Murgia National Park for state public schools, training & professional development institutions, clubs and cultural associations and the local community college. An archaeology amateur and an expert speleologist he was appointed Speleology Instructor at the Schools of Speleology at the Italian Speleology Society in 1993. He works as a contractor at the local government committees for prehistoric cave heritage in Apulia and Calabria. I have been invited to talk to specialists at conferences about the Environment of the Alta Murgia National Park, the regeneration and conservation policy of the environmental heritage, the promotion of the rural sustainable tourism in Apulian territory. He has also published essays on speleology. Finally, he is an expert naturalist photographer.

Lorenzo Lozito
I am a 33 year old professional rural guide and a member of the Italian Association of rural guides (AIGAE). I also work in Environmental Education. A trekking expert with a drive for expeditions and photography I have hiked through Himalayan valleys, survived to Thailand's jungles, went trekking in woodlands and open fields in the rain, in the snow, in howling wind. An ancient pleasure for a bit by bit discovery keeps me walking, staring at the enchanting hidden secrets of the nature, listening to its sounds, recovering the sensibility and the natural feeling that city life and technology has made so drowsy. Wake up!!!!!!!It's time for a walk....

Luciana Matera
Has a degree in Classical Studies and is specialized in prehistoric Archaeology. Her passion for the history of the Apulian civilizations and the Murgian landscape made her join a Master's course in Prehistoric documents analysis at the University of Lecce first and a training course on the "Man of Altamura" at the Local Heritage Conservation group of Altamura. Luciana is a researcher and works at archeological excavations in the area. She is an archaeology editor and a map draughtswoman of the archeological sites at the municipalities of Gravina, Poggiorsini and Spinazzola She has worked for the local representatives of the National Cultural heritage committee and has been responsible for the archeological catalogues at the National Archaeology museum in Altamura and the E. P. Santomasi Foundation in Gravina. She has taught archaeology at state public schools and managed projects for them. She speaks good English.

Emanuela Rossi
A Traveller by nature, a Wanderer out of choice and a rural guide as my profession. When I wander through the Alta Murgia I believe I can smell the landscape, I can talk to the plants, I can taste the wind, I can hear the rocks telling me stories whenever I touch them. An unbelievably powerful experience that inspires my tales, my thoughts, the right words that I am looking for to depict it to people who walk with me. Anyone from anywhere of any age can be my walk companion. I love doing that because it is great fun, but most of all because I know I can learn from anyone. Meeting people is a useful lesson. Travelling and sharing your experience is learning. Nature is a good company. I keep my slow pace while my thoughts are going fast running after myths, tales, memories, past adventures and experiences, which all remind me of whom accompanied me in seeking a quiet corner of the world.

Pietro Tortora
An activist and an environmentalist who works in Environmental Education. I've always been involved in environmental projects working with associations, environmental education centres, local action groups promoting a sustainable development of the Murgia area and its surroundings. The observation of the natural habitats, the bio-diversity of spontaneous plants and herbs used as natural remedies or for seasoning food, the wildlife, the karst phenomena, dry-stone walls and the unique, rustic architecture (masserie, casedde, jazzi and so on), going trekking along the old trails marked by the working donkeys is my day-to-day activity. Educational Farming houses are my latest discovery: I teach children the farmer's life and I show them how animals live and thrive on a farm. While doing that, I suddenly realize that I am going back in time to my childhood. Being a rural guide in the Alta Murgia National Park is a pleasure more than a job for someone like me who feels like a volunteer guardian of the park.