Pietro Freschi

Pietro Freschi was an Italian rower who was a member of the Vittorino da Feltre club. With Umberto Bonadé, Paolo Gennari, and the stroke Cesare Rossi, Freschi contributed to one of the best Italian crews between the World Wars. The crew of the coxless four, nicknamed “I gazzosini”, perhaps from the fact that the boat was not inaugurated with the classic sparkling wine but with a more modest bottle of soda, came together in 1927 and was composed of three firemen and a municipal clerk.

Freschi and his crew won the 1928 national title and repeated through 1931. Internationally their brightest moment was at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics where, despite Bonadè’s health issues (three surgeries for a glandular abscess), they managed to win bronze. Upon returning to Piacenza, the quartet was carried on the fans’ shoulders from the railway station to the main square.

In the following years the crew won the 1929 European title in Bydgoszcz and defended in 1930 in Liège (beating Switzerland and Belgium). They stayed together through 1931 and then retired. Freschi also won the Gold Cup, which was awarded to those who won the Lucerne regattas for three consecutive years.