Nino Castelli

Giovanni “Nino” Castelli practiced various sports from a young age, thanks in part to his impressive physique (he would grow to 1.88 m tall).In the waters of Lake Como, Castelli learned to swim early, and in the summer of 1912 won a race for under-16s at the Italian “lake” championships in Pusiano. That August, he also won the Malgrate-Lecco race. Castelli was not just an expert swimmer, however, because in the winter months he was also a strong skier, and in January 1914 won a 10 km cross-country race at Pian dei Resinelli. The following week, in Ponte di Legno, he placed third in both a 10 km race and ski jumping competition.

Dedicated to rowing, Castelli joined the Canottieri Lecco club, with whom he won his first regattas in various boats in 1914. After deciding to concentrate on the single sculls, he won a race in Pavia on 23 May 1915, the day before Italy entered World War I. Castelli volunteered for War service as an officer in the Morbegno Alpine Battalion and fought on the front lines with courage at the likes of Pasubio, Ortigara, and Castelgomberto, but in the “Battaglia degli Altipiani” of 1916, Castelli was captured. He remained a prisoner for two years and returned home only at the end of the conflict.

Castelli returned to rowing in 1919 and was selected for the Inter-Allied Games in Paris, the first major sporting event in seven years. The following year, he was selected for the single sculls at the Antwerpen Olympics but was eliminated in round one. At the 1921 European Championships at Amsterdam, Castelli finished second in a borrowed boat, beaten only by Frits Eijken, who had beaten him in their heat at the Olympics.

Castelli continued to compete until the summer of 1924, but his career as an athlete and as a man was coming to an end. Castelli gradually faded away and died at just 28 years old. The following year on the Artavaggio plateau ski resort, the SEL (Società Escursionisti Lecchesi) named a refuge after him.