[1] The son of doge Battista Fregoso, he was convinced by Pope Nicholas V to study ecclesiastical matters at Pavia.

The same year, aged only 26, he was appointed archbishop of Genoa by request of his brother Pietro, the current doge.

Pietro had become doge for the first time in 1450, succeeding his cousin Lodovico, who had resigned for unknown reasons.

In that year he participated as papal admiral for an expedition alongside the Neapolitan fleet of Ferdinand I against the Turks at Otranto.

In his late life he participated in the struggle to expel Charles VIII of France from Genoa.