Marco da Saliceto (c. 1245 – after 1297) was an Italian notary and administrator from Bologna, who served as a tutor of the future monarch Andrew III of Hungary.
The family lived in the street Borgo della Paglia (present-day via delle Belle Arti), which then belonged to the jurisdiction of the San Martino dell'Aposa parish church.
[1] By 1281, the political orientation of the brothers diverged: while Matteo returned to Bologna and swore loyalty to the Guelphs, which resulted in the restoration of his citizenship,[1] Marco remained in exile and moved to Venice with the permission of the authorities.
[5] Morosini entrusted Marco to educate his nephew, the young Andrew, son of the late Stephen the Posthumous, an alleged member of the Árpád dynasty and former claimant to the Hungarian throne.
[1] Andrew traveled to Hungary in early 1290, where he ascended the throne and was crowned king in July 1290, after the local lords recognized him as a legitimate offspring of the Árpád dynasty.
[6] It is possible that Marco started his journey in the accompaniment of Queen Tomasina Morosini, the mother of Andrew III, also involving a Venetian official state delegation in September 1291.
The ships of the delegation spent a long time wandering off the coast of Dalmatia in the following months, because of the piracy activity of the Šubići, partisans of Andrew's rival, the Capetian House of Anjou.
[10] His complaint describes capital worth a total of 1,300 Bolognese lire, which allows to conclude that his service in Venice and Hungary resulted in serious financial gain for Marco.
[1] Modern scholars – e.g. Guido Zaccagnini, Gina Fasoli and Massimo Giansante – rejected the identification of Marco da Saliceto with Dante's character, based on chronological and geographical reasons.
[1] In addition, the character Marco Lombardo appeared as a subject of anecdotes and short stories even before Dante's creation of the Divine Comedy, which suggests, that he is a non-existent figure typifying the learned Italian man.