Born at
Sampierdarena (in what is modern
Genoa), he was the son of
Franceschetto Cybo and
Maddalena de' Medici, daughter of
Lorenzo de' Medici. His paternal grandfather was
Pope Innocent VIII. His uncle was
Pope Leo X. His cousin was
Pope Clement VII. In 1520 Leo X, in agreement with Lorenzo's elder brother,
Cardinal Innocenzo Cybo, arranged his marriage to
Ricciarda Malaspina, the aspiring heiress of the
Massa branch of the
Malaspina family. From this marriage the new
house of Cybo-Malaspina would originate: it was to hold the
Marquisate (then Duchy) of Massa and Carrara until 1829, when it was annexed to the
Duchy of Modena and Reggio, ruled by a
successor of theirs in the female line. Despite producing offspring, the marriage turned out to be decidedly stormy. Lorenzo aspired to take control of his late father-in-law's Marquisate in his own name or in the name of his first-born son who came into the world in 1525, but Ricciarda was determined to keep it in her hands. In 1529 she succeeded in having herself invested
suo jure by the
Emperor Charles V, but the following year Lorenzo in turn managed to have himself named co-owner ("co-padrone") of the fief. In 1538 he even made an attempt to force his wife out, but in vain, and in 1541 she finally obtained a new imperial decree revoking her husband's investiture for good. Their first-born son
Giulio, after having ousted Ricciarda by force from 1546 to 1547 with his father's help, ended up beheaded for treason in Milan in 1548. Lorenzo Cybo died the following year, in 1549, and was succeeded as Duke of Ferentillo by his younger son
Alberico, although perhaps born from his mother's adulterous relationship with Lorenzo's brother, Cardinal Innocenzo Cybo. In 1553, upon his mother's death, Alberico succeeded her too, adding, by her testamentary disposition, the style Malaspina to his paternal surname. ==Military service==