Federico Cornaro (died 1382)

The exact date of his birth and his early career are unknown, and difficult to reconstruct due to the presence of namesake figures of the wider House of Cornaro at the same time.

[1] The fief of Episkopi, granted with a complete tax exemption as Peter was unable to repay his loans, was soon developed into the major centre for sugar production aimed for the Venetian market.

[1] In July 1372 he was included in a zonta of thirty patricians to the Council of Ten, convened to debate the Republic's stance against Francesco I da Carrara, lord of Padua.

[1] In 1378, he was sent, along with Giovanni Bembo, as ambassador to Milan, with the aim of convincing its ruler, Bernabò Visconti, of allying with Venice in the War of Chioggia against the Republic of Genoa.

[1] His influence, especially with Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy, helped end the war in the Treaty of Turin, which among other things guaranteed his commercial interests in Cyprus.

[1] Federico Cornaro served again as ambassador do Francesco I da Carrara, then in a zonta of twenty to the Venetian Senate, and in early 1382 on another embassy to Niccolò II d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara.

[2] As part of his entrepreneurial activities in the East, he arranged the marriage of his son Pietro to Maria of Enghien, Lady of Argos and Nauplia in southern Greece, in 1377.

In the first years of their reign, they resided in Venice, and Federico acted on their behalf, securing permissions from the Venetian government to send supplies or arm a galley to defend the lordship.