ABSTRACT
As ambassador to Count Francesco Sforza and provveditore with Gattamelata, Michele Attendolo da Cotignola, and other Venetian condottieri, Marcello fought in the wars Venice waged with Milan throughout the second quarter of the century. From 1438 to 1440, he accompanied Venetian troops at Casalmaggiore and entered Brescia and Verona following the heroic transport of ships described. Sent immediately to Ravenna, a Venetian dependency, he held that city as instructed by the Senate with 2000 soldiers borrowed from the general Colleoni. A declaration of war, one would think, might rupture a friendship. However, both before the 1453 crisis and afterwards, Marcello corresponded warmly with René, and confected a series of literary presents to send over the Alps. Marcello probably sent the first such gift on 5 April 1452 as he was about to embark on a mission abroad for his patria.
