The Italian strongman “Nino” figured out very early on that making a lift impressive went far beyond mere poundage, “what” was lifted was a big part of it too, and he had a flair for making his feats remarkable productions. Here’s a perfect example: Nino as the fulcrum in a carousel consisting of two motor cars. This was the early 1900’s so those cars had to weigh a few thousand pounds apiece, and to boot each was also filled with an additional four people. — I’d certainly pay to see that.
Nino, the Italian strongman, favored heavy and impressive supporting feats in his act. In the lift pictured above, Nino supported 500kg in the crooks of his arms consisting of a “human dumbbell” filled with six people. Quite impressive!

The Italian strongman “Nino” had a flair for equipment that few others have ever matched. His specialty was heavy supporting feats but in his act he preferred to use much more dramatic weights than many of his fellow strongmen. Here’s a look at Nino’s 500kg (1100 lb.) globe barbell(!) – it doesn’t get more “Oldtime” than that! Nino himself is at the far left.