Royal gardens abandoned
Sardinia's chief of protocol Fiorino Pera surveys the empty courtyard of the royal grounds following the French invasion. As he walked through the abandoned gardens, he mourned the loss of life and the end of the freedom of his country. It was then that he found that the king had left a message for him in a secret compartment that the French had not found. King Vittorio Amedeo III had retreated to Moncalieri. Don Fiorino determined to reach the abandoned king there (SL date 9 May 2009).