BARBO, MARCO. — Cardinal, born in Venice around 1420, died in Rome on 2 March 1491. Related to Paolo II, whose surname he bore, he held under him, when he was cardinal, the office of household master and through his influence was provided with ecclesiastical benefices, including, in 1453, that of the abbey of Rosazzo in Friuli. In September 1455, Callistus III conferred upon him the bishopric of Treviso, from which, on 17 September 1464, Paolo II transferred him to that of Vicenza. On 18 September he was created cardinal of the title of S. Marco, and on 18 March 1471 became patriarch of Aquileia; but, being detained in the Curia, he was never able to reside there. In 1472 Sixtus IV entrusted him with a legation to Germany, Hungary, and Poland, and subsequently also to Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Returning to Rome in October 1474, he was appointed, on 24 July 1476, commendatory abbot of S. Croce di Sassovivo near Foligno. When all his attempts to bring the Benedictines of this abbey back to observance of the rule proved fruitless, he replaced them with the Olivetans. On 6 November 1478 he became bishop of Palestrina, a city that he embellished with new constructions and restorations. At the death of Sixtus IV he was a candidate for the tiara, and subsequently proved a valuable aid to Innocent VIII. In February 1485 B. received in commendam the priory of Pontida in the region of Bergamo and then, on 3 December, that of S. Balbina in Rome, whose preservation and advancement he ensured through important restorations. He was esteemed for his integrity of life and nobility of spirit and, as a patron, protected men of letters and especially the art of printing, then newly introduced into Rome. There he continued the work on the palace of S. Marco, now the Palazzo Venezia, begun by Paolo II, and erected the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in the church of S. Marco, where he was later buried.
Letters exchanged by him with Matteo Valleresco, archbishop of Zara, are preserved in Cod. Barb. lat. 1809. Cf. P. Paschini, Il carteggio fra M.B. e Giovanni Lorenzi, Città del Vaticano 1948.