Oberto Doria was born at Genoa before 1230, the oldest of four sons of Pietro Doria and Mabilia Casiccia. He was thus a member of the powerful family of the D'Oria, and the brother of Lamba Doria.
Naval command
Following the defeat and capture of the Genoese fleet under Lanfranco Borbonino at the Battle of Trapani on 23 June, Oberto assumed his first naval command, being placed in charge of a fleet of 25 ships. Taking advantage of the victorious Venetian fleet's inactivity at Venice, Oberto sailed in early August and moved east and sacked the town of Canea on Crete, sometime in September. On his return journey, his fleet encountered the Venetian trade convoy sailing east, protected by Marco Zeno's thirty galleys. Numerically inferior and encumbered with the loot and captives of Canea, Oberto avoided combat and fled. Despite having the advantage over his enemy, Zeno was content to see the Genoese retreating, and did not pursue them.
Ruling the Republic
On 28 October 1270, together with Oberto Spinola, member of another important Genoese family, inaugurated a series of two-man governments headed by their families, with dictatorial powers as the captains of the people. Ruling for 15 years during what has been termed the golden age of the Genoese in the Middle Ages. His moves aimed to defend the Genoese Republic's integrity against the Fieschi family, who wanted to create a personal seignory in the Levante Ligure, and the Grimaldi, who had usurped part of the Ponente. He personally moved against Nicolò Fieschi in 1273, storming his capital La Spezia, while his brother Jacopo, at the same time, warred victoriously against the Grimaldi. At the same time, he led a prudent conduct against the French Charles of Anjou, then King ofNaples and Sicily and also a powerful feudatary in north-western Italy and Provence. Oberto Doria rose to fame however as the admiral of the Genoese fleet in the Battle of Meloria in which, together with Benedetto Zaccaria and Corrado Spinola he crushed the Pisans, then Genoa's main rivals in the maritime trades in the Mediterranean together with Venice. This victory allowed Genoa to regain Corsica and Sardinia, and reduced Pisa to a secondary status in the Mediterranean Sea In 1285 he renounced voluntarily to co-dictatorship, but maintained a role in the Genoese politics. The peace with Pisa was signed in his house on 15 April 1288. Oberto Doria died sometime shortly before 6 September 1306.
