With Aldo Dezi, Francesco La Macchia formed the most successful crew in the history of Italian canoeing. Their silver medal at the 1960 Roma Olympics was the first Italian canoeing medal, and the only Olympic medal in the Canadian style through 2016. La Macchia and Dezi were united thanks to the Hungarian Federal coach K. Blahò and they became the symbol of all the Italian canoeing movement. With Dezi, La Macchia won 1960 Italian titles in C2-1,000 and C2-10K and repeated those victories in 1961. With other partners, La Macchia won two more Italian titles in 1964 and repeated that in 1969. La Macchia and Dezi re-united in 1970 to win another Italian title in Canadian doubles
Italy