It is a happy return to Treviso for Canadian-born back row Barbieri, who played for the club until last year before landing at Welford Road with a large group of former green and white players such as Leonardo Ghiraldini, Christian Loamanu and Michele Rizzo.
Barbieri was born in Toronto, Canada, on June 5th, 1984. He can play at flanker and No.8, he is 185cm tall and weighs 104kg.
He grew up at Yeomen Rugby and then moved to Italy in 2003 at Overmach Parma, with his brother, Mike, who played prop.
In the 2007/2008 season he joined Benetton Treviso, winning two Italian Championships, one Italian Cup and one Italian Super Cup.
He is a physical and powerful player, one of the best ball carriers in Italy, and he made his international debut against Japan in Tokyo on June 11th, 2006.
He has since gone on to earn a total of 39 caps, the last of which on March 21 against Wales.
"I'm very happy to come back to Treviso," he said. "And to have the opportunity to wear again the shirt of Benetton, with which I played for most of my career in Italy.
"This year abroad helped me to mature and I hope to have grown as a player and to be able to bring this experience to the team, to try to get something special together."
Benetton Treviso is also pleased to report that it has extended the deal with Kiwi flanker Dean Budd.
He was born in Whangarei, New Zealand, and is 196cm in height and weighs 108kg. He arrived in Italy in the 2012/2013 season from Japan (NEC Green Rockets).
He is a flanker of good dynamism, appreciated as a prolific scorer of tries - most notably his hat-trick at Ravenhill in Belfast against Ulster - and for his ease in offloading.
"I'm happy to still have a chance to play for this club so proud. It's' for me a great honour," said Budd, who can be deployed also as No.8 and lock.
"I look forward to work even harder to face the new challenges that I will be required in the future and start the path to bring the mighty Lions back to former glory."
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