Four men stood on Lido island at the waterfront looking at the lagoon. The Doge’s Palace rose majestically on the other side in the heart of the city. The goal was clear: Who would reach the Doge’s Palace, or more precisely the Ponte della Paglia*, first would win the swimming tournament.
Ready, steady, go! The four men threw themselves in the cold waters of the lagoon and swam to the city centre, leaving the Lido and its beaches behind them. But three of the four men were very soon outdistanced by one swimmer, a lord.
The bet
Angelo Mengaldo, the British consul Richard Belgrave Hoppner, Alexander Scott and Lord Byron had entered the waters on the 15th June 1818 to assert who would be the better swimmer.
Lord Byron was the only one who reached the goal. The others gave up halfway through. But Angelo Mengaldo just couldn’t accept the defeat: He asked Lord Byron for a rematch, but this time the goal was the Rialto Bridge.
The rematch
On the 18th June (others think on the 25th ) Lord Byron, Mengaldi and Scott entered again the waters at Lido island, but this time again Lord Byron won the bet: He didn’t stop at the Rialto Bridge though, he continued to Santa Chiara (where you find the trainstation today), turned back, passed the Rialto Bridge another time and left the Grand Canal right at the Palazzo he had rented out (Ca‘ Mocenigo) after 3 hours 45 minutes.
The Byron Cup
This bet and his glorious winner inspired in 1905, when the first swimming school in Venice was founded, the Lord Byron Cup: This swimming tournament starting from Lido island and finishing at the trainstation Santa Lucia was held till the 1950s when it was cancelled for good because of the poor water quality.
*The bridge set between the Doge’s Palace and the prisons building and mostly used by visitors who take a picture of Bridge of Sighs.
