[2] Barbaro held public office for the first time in 1443, when he was an avogador del mobile, but his career only took off some two decades later.
[2] In July 1476, he was sent as ambassador to the Marquisate of Mantua to attend the marriage of Paolo, daughter of the Marquis Ludovico Gonzaga, with Count Leonhard of Gorizia.
In December, he was sent to the Duchy of Milan to express the republic's condolences on the death of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza.
[2] In 1482, after the outbreat of the War of Ferrara, Barbaro loaned the republic 3,000 ducats for its prosecution.
In both years, he was also sent as the republic's ambassador to the condottiero Roberto Sanseverino, who was captain general of the Venetian army.
[2] In 1487, he was elected procurator de citra of San Marco,[2] a post he still held at the time of his death.
[4] Among Barbaro's surviving correspondence are letters he wrote to his cousin Ermolao, Pier Candido Decembrio, Francesco Loschi, Lauro Quirini and Domenico de' Domenichi, as well as letters sent to him by his father, Domenico, Andrea Brenta, Francesco Filelfo and Maffeo Vallaresso.