In 1463 Pope Pius II sent Moro a consecrated sword with the intention of convincing Venice to join the anti-Turk alliance.

That same year a coalition was formed between Venice, Hungary and the Albanian prince Skanderbeg with the blessing of the Pope to counter the threat of Sultan Mehmed II's aggressive policy of conquest.

The coalition succeeded in temporarily halting Turkish expansion; however, the new territorial limits acquired by the Turks in their conquests had by and large been accepted.

In 1469 the Venetian fleet commander Niccolò Canal retook the town of Ainos in Thrace, but he was not able to defend the island of Negroponte (Euboea), a major granary of Venice, from Turkish attack.

The Republic faced further threats from the northern Italian cities who coveted Venetian land, as well as from the French king Louis XI who was seeking to expand Lombardy at the expense of Venice.