Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri won his second title in the
European Swimming Championships' five-kilometer open water event.
The 27-year-old took first position ahead of Marc-Antoine Olivier of France
and Domenico Acerenza of his own country.
In Rome, he also captured the 800m freestyle European championship.
The world champion in the 1500 metres and the 10 kilometres in open water finished in 52 minutes and 13.5 seconds,
beating Acerenza, who finished second behind Paltrinieri in Budapest in June, by 0.7 seconds.
In a competition they have dominated in Europe, Italy earned their 21st gold medal.
In a scaled-down open water competition that begins on Sunday after being delayed by two days
owing to severe storms that tore across Italy, Paltrinieri will also compete in the 10km.
Two people died on Thursday in Tuscany as a result of pieces of Venice's famed St. Mark's Square bell tower breaking off.
The women's 5 km race was won by Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands,
who finished more than a second ahead of Giulia Gabbrielleschi of Italy and Maria de Valdes of Spain.