[1] In 1350, when a centuries-long feud between Venice and Genoa erupted again into open war, the Venetian doge, Andrea Dandolo, gave the experienced Pisani command of the city's main fleet.
Pisani was dispatched in 1352 to engage the Genoan navy, commanded by his counterpart and rival Paganino Doria, near Constantinople.
Only five of the approximately 40 galleys under his command escaped the battle, and Venice itself was only spared by a peace imposed on the two republics by the Duke of Milan.
While the usual punishment for a Venetian admiral responsible for such a disaster would be death, Pisani's previous victories and popularity with the common people of the city earned him some clemency.
[2] Niccolò's son, Vettor Pisani, was with him at Porto Longo, and would go on to command the Venetian navy more than two decades later in another war with the Genoese.