[2][3] In December 2021, Acerenza swam a personal best time of 1:48.12.0 in the 10 kilometer open water swim to win the silver medal in the event as part of the Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival, finishing within three seconds of gold medalist Florian Wellbrock.

[4] Earlier in the competition, Acerenza competed in the first-ever 4×1500 metre mixed open water relay, helping to win the gold medal.

[7] In June 2022, he won a silver medal in the 10 kilometre open water swim at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, finishing just 1.4 seconds behind Gregorio Paltrinieri with a time of 1:50:58.2.

[11][12] Two months later, at the 2022 European Aquatics Championships, held in Rome, he won the silver medal in the 5 kilometre open water swim with a time of 52:14.2.

[13][14] The following day, he won the gold medal in the 10 kilometre open water swim, finishing over three seconds ahead of silver medalist Marc-Antoine Olivier of France with a time of 1:50:33.6.