Giotto walks into the skate park as if he were stepping into his own living room. A one-eyed “Italo-Australian” bulldog who’s full of confidence, he heads straight for the ramps at Sydney Park and blends in among the other skaters.
Greg Denaro, his owner, laughs as he recalls that Giotto was “the second-last pup in the litter, the one no one wanted”.
“People were looking for a calm dog, an easy life … He’s the opposite. He’s got endless energy,” he says.
In Denaro’s voice is an affectionate resignation, the kind that comes from knowing you’ve completely lost control and don’t mind a bit.
Giotto’s love of skateboarding goes back to when he was a puppy. “We thought he’d be scared of the noise, like most dogs. Instead, he was obsessed,” Denaro recalls, before revealing that “he learned on his own”.
The first board had been left in the backyard with no particular plan. Two evenings later, Giotto was out there alone, pushing it back and forth on the grass as if someone had taught him.
From there it went to car parks, pavements, then skate parks. “He nearly ripped my shoulder out one day,” shares Denaro, explaining that every time Giotto spotted someone on a skateboard he bolted like a spring.
A retired civil engineer, Denaro eventually began building custom skateboards for him—“Kids’ boards don’t work—he’d get hurt.”
Denaro bought plywood, removed the wheels from the old board and tested shapes and measurements until he found the right one: as wide as Giotto’s shoulders, long enough to stop him tipping forward. “It looks simple, but it’s perfect for a dog.”
About eight weeks ago, Giotto lost an eye due to a tumour that had caused glaucoma. “We were afraid everything would change,” reveals Denaro.
“But no. He might trip a bit more, but that might just be age.”
On the board, Giotto is the same as ever—focused, determined and indifferent to distractions. “When he’s on the board he doesn’t even notice other dogs. It’s just board, board, board,” adds Denaro’s wife, Daniela Vincenzi.
Giotto especially loves riding the skateboard with children—he leads them, speeds up and encourages them to follow.
Then there’s his second obsession: surf boats. The moment he hears them offshore, he goes crazy. Once, he even jumped into a Wanda Beach Life Saving boat mid-training. The crew, stunned, took him half a kilometre out.
“He can swim for two hours, even though he’s a bulldog,” reveals Denaro. “He’s an athlete.”
Denaro, the son of Sicilian migrants, and Vincenzi—who was born in Modica with a Venetian father—live in Cronulla. Giotto skates three or four times a week. The rest of the time it’s walks and the occasional ocean adventure.
Now, Giotto is aiming for the Guinness World Records. “There are five categories he could do … maybe all five in one day,” Denaro says.
Three of the records Giotto has in his sights are going through a human leg tunnel with over 40 people, a 100-metre time record and skating in a skate park with pro skaters for over ten minutes.
Speed, balance, endurance—areas no dog has really attempted in the context of skateboarding. “There’s no other dog in the world who skates with humans like this,” Daniela adds. “We’d like him to be recognised, remembered.”
Their only concrete support comes from Sydney Animal Hospital in Erskineville, which helps with vet bills. The rest is passion, commitment and a bulldog who, every time he steps on his board, seems to declare the simplest truth: this is where I belong.
Watching him drop into the ramp, surrounded by onlookers, it’s hard to disagree. Giotto isn’t performing—he’s just doing what comes naturally. And for him, that means racing across his custom-built board.
