FABIO "WOLF" GUGLIERMINOTTI: FIGHTING (AND HELPING TO FIGHT) MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS FROM THE HEIGHT OF "160CM"

con l'amica Sara, che l'aveva ospitato a Londra nel 2023, re-incontrata quasi per caso l'anno dopo in Francia

nel 2024 un "ripasso" in Costa Azzurra, dove tutto era cominciato nel 1994

a Savona gli è capitato di dormire in un'attrezzatissima area cani

a Lockerley, in Inghilterra, gli è capitato di dormire... alla fermata dell'autobus!

le Valli del Canavese, i luoghi dove Wolf ha pedalato maggiormente nella sua vita

ospite di Luca Zaccaro a Saint Vincent nel 2024

ogni tanto, nel viaggiare all'avventura senza prenotazioni, capita comunque di trovare un hotel sulla propria strada: qui è a Caldicot, in Galles

Wolf insieme a Jonathan Hopkins ed Emyr Griffiths (nel garage-negozio-riparazioni di quest'ultimo) coloro che lo hanno "salvato" nel buio gallese

la prima volta che ha imballato una bici per il volo in totale autonomia: non banale, con la sua patologia

IN-DEPTH | 08/02/2026 | 08:28
di Nicolò Vallone
We speak to him on the phone while he's pedaling to go swimming. Cycling helps him think and move, to untangle mental and muscular knots. Particularly those in his legs, which since 2008, from that retrobulbar optic neuritis in his left eye that was the first warning sign, and officially since 2011, when examinations for knee pain led to the diagnosis, have an increasing tendency to contract and stiffen. Yes, because the life of Fabio Guglierminotti, born in 1977 in Turin, is characterized by an acronym with two faces: SM. Which means Multiple Sclerosis (Sclerosi Multipla, in Italian). Which means Always in Motion (Sempre in Movimento, in Italian).

Maintaining his innate sporting lifestyle to preserve his identity: a formidable way to counter this neurodegenerative autoimmune disease that about 144,000 people in Italy live with. After all, Fabio is a born fighter: until 2009 he was a boxer and his name in the ring was Wolf. This is still how everyone knows him today: Fabio Wolf. And he's also a born cyclist, or better, a cycle traveler. We met him at the Nerviano event on January 17th together with our director Pier Augusto Stagi: to be there, Wolf had cycled almost forty kilometers in the rain. But this is nothing compared to what he is capable of doing with that instrument of physical and existential freedom called bicycle...

His first pedaling dates back to the family's blue Graziella when he was in elementary school, his first cycle trip was in 1994 with his friend Riccardo Cibrario: destination French Riviera, with bike and sleeping bag. He gets a taste for it, weekend bike trips become a routine, in the city he moves on saddle and two wheels (he only had a car for a year and a half) and in 2001 he repeats the '94 experience in another French territory of Italian origins, Corsica island. Meanwhile, however, it's boxing gloves more than handlebars that keep him occupied. Until in 2009 he hangs them up, to spend a work and life experience in London, moving with a Genesis Day O.O bought on Brick Lane. Then return to Italy and the diagnosis.

Fifteen years ago, therefore, begins the "SM phase" of Wolf's life. Medications have changed (interferon, fingolimod, alemtuzumab, ocrelizumab) and side effects were not lacking, such as a hyperthyroidism in 2018 that would lead him to undergo radial shock wave therapy under the guidance of doctors Claudio Solaro and Paola Cavalla, with subsequent fundraising to donate a specific machine to the Molinette Hospital. Bicycles have changed, all strictly muscular (Brompton, Bianchi Predator, Giant) and thefts were not missing, even outside hospitals during important medical visits. What hasn't changed, indeed has remained solid and strengthened, is his spirit: "More than resilience, an overused term, I would say anti-fragility: asking myself 'how do I get out of this?' instead of curling up in negativity, doing what I can instead of complaining about what I don't have; working on myself and trying to be the best version of myself. I have multiple sclerosis? Everyone has problems and difficulties of all kinds, there are those who are much worse off than me and if I limited myself to getting angry and being discouraged, I'd never find an answer. This condition was an opportunity to better understand life's problems and appreciate how my journey has brought me to have a precise idea of limits and possibilities, and many friendly people ready to help me."

In 2013 he resumes cycle trips: almost every year he takes one, compatible with his vacation from his job at a large company in Turin and with care needs. He takes his bike, his tent, water, supplies, power bank, equipment to satisfy primary needs; he doesn't book accommodations, never knowing how much distance he'll be able to cover the next day, and goes: Barcelona, Belgium and Netherlands, Portugal, Santiago Way, Sardinia circumnavigation, Balkans, Sicily circumnavigation, Brittany and Normandy, Sweden, Great Britain and Ireland... Often sleeping in campsites or random public areas, finding new friends on his path and reconnecting with old ones: every completed trip is like a round won against the disease.

In total he covers 10-12,000 km by bike annually. In Croatia and Albania he was hosted after getting lost or arriving exhausted in the evening. In 2023 in London he had two herniated discs, had to give up Scotland but managed to go to Dublin and then return to Italy with the help of friends Matteo, Sara and Ronan. Almost as revenge in 2024 he did the Route des Grandes Alpes, hosted in Saint-Vincent by friend Luca Zaccaro (met in previous cycle trips), crying on the Galibier remembering Pantani and climbing the Iseran. In 2025 overcoming a taboo, that of bike on plane, with the precious help in packaging from another great cycle traveler friend, Silvio Gian Luigi Spertino, called Mosè: in Wales, Wolf punctured the rear wheel at 7 pm, in the darkness triathlete Jonathan Hopkins saw him by pure chance, didn't hesitate to load him in his van and take him to a mechanic, the ex-policeman Emyr Griffiths, who prepared Wolf dinner, did his laundry, let him sleep and the next day accompanied him to the point where he had to resume his journey. And once back in Italy at Orio al Serio, Wolf surprisingly found his physiotherapist Eleonora Battistello picking him up at the airport. "The world isn't as horrible as people believe - he explains emotionally - if you know how to keep away from dangerous situations and do good that then returns to you. Moreover, the bike is a cathartic tool, brings people closer and breaks down every barrier, allows anyone to practice sports and creates a true community."

Here, community and ability to do good. Parallel to work, cycle trips, Motor Science studies (it would be his second degree, after the one already obtained in DAMS) and training in the pool and boxing gym, with people from his old sports world he never abandoned like kickboxer Roberto Cocco, there's an activity called 160CM. In 2016 Wolf decides to tell his story by opening a blog: what to call it? The idea comes from a training companion, the publicist Davide Pallavicini: "what's your height from eyes to ground on bicycle"? Soon said, 160CM: the height that allowed Wolf not to be overwhelmed by the "fracture" of before and after the condition.

In the summer of 2020, during the pandemic and crowdfunding for Molinette, 160CM becomes an association that provides support in multiple forms primarily to people with multiple sclerosis and their caregivers: music therapy, wellness activities, psychological listening, collective sharing moments, bike rides (the bicycle, inevitable) and agreements with healthcare facilities. "What we do makes people feel not like patients, but human beings who care for themselves not only through hospitalization, but through stimulating experiences: this is true inclusivity, working together to allow everyone to experience a journey!"

The 160CM association (official website HERE) has about a hundred members, including vice-president Simona Truglio, and has created in collaboration with the University of Turin two studies published in 2024, demonstrating the effectiveness of both radial shock waves and "adapted physical activity" in reducing muscle hypertonia in multiple sclerosis subjects. And here come into play Fabio Guglierminotti aka Wolf's future projects and dreams: "If the hen lays an egg but doesn't say cock-a-doodle-doo, no one will know about that egg. I'd like to encourage a specific study on the combination of shock waves (ODU) and physical activity (AFA) in treating multiple sclerosis, spread our approach to life and disease, promote our activities and the culture of personal self-determination through a sort of Giro d'Italia involving political institutions, local administrations and cycling associations throughout Italy. The project's culmination would be my swimming across the Messina Strait. I already know that, if so, I'll be a guest at the Sapienza Refuge on Etna. The next cycle trip? Perhaps the Wild Atlantic Way, between Dublin and Cork."

Wishing Wolf (who, among other things, follows professional cycling as a passionate fan and shares an osteopath with top Piedmontese riders: Davide Scavarda, who has treated among others Filippo Ganna and Fabio Felline) to realize this and much more, we part ways with his applause-worthy conclusion: "The bike makes me enjoy, I wouldn't want to do anything else when I pedal, it's an extension of my person, I 'feel' it as if it were a body part, if it's not well, I feel it. Unfortunately we live in a society that disables, because it evaluates you based on what you have. My condition is very scary and is a great nuisance, but in opposition to it, I dared to be the master of my life. Thought creates action, action creates behavior, behavior becomes habit, which shapes character and builds your tomorrow."