Barbesino also represented Italy at international level, and represented his country in football at the 1912 Summer Olympics.[4] He is officially the fourth-youngest international player to ever appear for Italy, behind only Rodolfo Gavinelli, Renzo De Vecchi, and Gianluigi Donnarumma; he made his international debut on 1 July 1912, in a 1–0 away win over hosts Sweden at the Summer Olympics that year, at the age of 18 years and 2 months.[2] In total, he collected five international appearances between 1912 and 1914, scoring once in a 1–0 friendly away win over Switzerland on 17 May 1914, which was his final international appearance.[1] He later coached Roma between 1934 and 1938.
A convinced Fascist, Barbesino co-organized and took part in the Fascist march on Bolzano on October 1–2 which anticipated the March on Rome.[5]
Disappearance
When World War II began, Barbesino abandoned football to serve as a majorobserver in the Regia Aeronautica, flying in Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 trimotors of 194ª squadriglia bombardamento terrestre (193rd bomb squadron) based with the rest of 20° Stormo (20th wing) on Sciacca airfield in Sicily.[3] On 20 April 1941 he was an observer on an aircraft flying on the Sciacca-Kuriate-Kerkenna-Sciacca course. While his wingman turned back one-hour after take-off due to bad weather, Barbesino's aircraft was never heard of again. To this day, he and the entire crew of six are still posted as missing.[3][6]