Visit to ASD Canottieri Sile

In June 2022, I met a group of rowers from Treviso’s SILE club when I joined the CIVV rally in Padua. Earlier this year, the SILE club contacted me to say they were coming to Oxford for the 2023 rally on 19-22 July. Stefano Melanotte invited me to visit the club during our March training with Settemari.

I went to Treviso to meet Stefano and his colleagues with John Russell and Chris Wayman (Settemari) on 11 March.

Canottieri Sile is the oldest sports club in Treviso, founded in 1908. It is primarily a rowing club with a kayak and a Venetian rowing section. Uniquely, it’s right in the centre of Treviso. We went for a row on the River Sile with Stefano and some other club members, rowing 5K westwards to just below the airport. We rowed in a sandolo and a very fast four-man mascareta out of the city into the countryside and on to the airport.

After the outing we were entertained by the President, Massimo Donadon and his wife, Giannantonio Cedolin and Stefano. Campari Spritzes went down very well indeed. We walked round the centre of Treviso, enjoying drinks by the Palazzo dei Trecento, before returning to watch Italy play Wales at rugby on the club’s TV. We look forward to return their hospitality in Oxford, in July.