Italian actor Bud Spencer, who starred in a string of spaghetti westerns, died on Monday in Rome aged 86, his family confirmed.

"With our deepest regrets, we have to tell you that Bud is flying to his next journey," his family said on Spencer's Twitter account in English.

Spencer, born Carlo Pedersoli in Italy in 1929, played in 16 films alongside Terence Hill, whose real name was Mario Girotti.

After World War II, the family moved again, this time to Rio de Janeiro, where the young Spencer quit his studies and started taking odd jobs, including a construction worker and as a librarian.

He later returned to Rome, where he went back to school and took up competitive swimming, and in 1950, he became the first Italian to swim the 100-meter freestyle in under a minute.

Over the next decade, he was crowned Italy's swimming champion seven times. But after the 1960 Olympics in Rome, he abandoned his swimming career.

He married the daughter of a film producer and had three children.

It was only at the age of 38, in 1967, that he starred in his first western, God forgives... I don't!

He and Girotti then decided to change their names - and the name he chose, Bud Spencer, was a tribute to his favorite beer and US actor Spencer Tracy.