5.11 Francesco Cavaliere

5.11 Francesco Cavaliere

From An Open Water Swimmer's Podcast by William Ellis

March 14, 2026 · 54 min · Season 5 · Episode 11

About this episode

Francesco Cavaliere discusses his unique approach to marathon swimming and the environmental and historical significance of his journeys.

(Available to subscribers, episode free to play 14th March) This episode is with Francesco Cavliere, he is an Italian marathon swimmer, who swims totally self supported and his approach to swimming is often referred to as "Swim & Explore”. Francesco likes to emphasise the environmental and historical context of the places he swims, treating swimming as a means of discovery rather than just a sport… he runs swimming excursions throughout the Mediterranean and he has designed his own fibre glass tow boats - called “barquinos” that obviously carry all his gear. He has swam the coastlines of all 44 of the Italian islands in an epic 13 year feat… and needless to say he has endless stories to tell about the beautiful Mediterranean. I am just sad we couldn’t get more into the episode… I hope you enjoy!

People in this episode

Host: William Ellis

Guest: Francesco Cavaliere

Topics covered

  • marathon swimming
  • self-supported swimming
  • environmental awareness
  • historical context
  • swimming excursions
  • Mediterranean exploration

Keywords

  • marathon swimmer
  • self supported
  • Swim & Explore
  • swimming excursions
  • Mediterranean
  • barquinos
  • Italian islands

Mentioned in this episode

Places: Italy, Mediterranean, Italian islands

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