Marco Garb, born Marco de' Gilbelli, was an Italian born German merchant. With the arrival of Grantville in the past, Garb immersed himself in political intrigue against the United States of Europe. When he was a child, Garb's parents left their hometown of Turin for Geneva in the hope that they could freely practice their Calvinist beliefs there. As the Holy Roman Empire extented its reach to suppress Protestants of all faiths, Marco moved on to the Imperial City and ancient Roman outpost of Augsburg, a city proud of its historic tolerance of different faiths. He had even adopted his cousins' Germanized version of their family name (Garb) in order to fit in better with the local business people. There he became a wealthy merchant after one of his cousins, Johann Baptist, introduced Marco