Mattia Veronese, a 29-year-old electrician, spent the night swimming and clinging to rocks off the Sacca degli Scardovari, at Porto Tolle, his home town.
Veronese decided to have a midnight dip with four friends, but got separated from them.
He was found on Sunday morning, around six kilometres from where he went into the water.
He was hospitalised with minor injuries having drunk a lot of sea water and was "very tired," his mother Loretta Grandi said to local media.
“He told me, ‘I did it, I managed to survive on my own’,” she said.
She said her son had been swept out to sea by a freak wave and reached some rocks and tried to walk on them but they were too muddy, after which he vainly tried to alert seeking helicopters and drones.
“Now he's tired, he's on a drip, they've done all their tests and the doctors have said they're going to keep him in overnight for observation”.
