Thirty years old, Francesco has been affected by spastic diplegia since birth, which led him to take up swimming as a form of therapy. In 2012, he participated in the Paralympic Games for the first time, but his breakthrough occurred in the following four years. In 2015, he became world champion in the 400-meter freestyle in Glasgow. On September 13th, 2016, he won gold in the 400-meter freestyle S6 category at the Rio Paralympic Games. In the next four years, he won ten medals (five gold) at the European Championships in Dublin and the World Championships in London. On August 25th, 2021, he won the gold medal in the 200-meter freestyle S5 at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games with a new Paralympic record of 2'26"76. He repeated his success on August 26th by winning the 100-meter freestyle S5. The 2022 and 2023 World Championships for the athlete from Nuotatori Genovesi and Fiamme Oro concluded with four more gold medals. Father to Daniele and husband to Camilla, he will compete in his fourth Olympics in Paris.