Decree founding the Royal Academy of Turin. mini sters, ambassadors-, top functionaries and future officers. A few years later work began on a large building to house it. Th e Duke's architect. Amedeo di Castellamonte conceived the plan. The death of Carlo Emanuele did not halt progress. which was in fact encouraged by his widow, Madame Reale Giovan na Battista of Savoia-Nemours, who acted as Regent until her son. Vittorio Amedeo II, came of ag e. On January 1st 1678 the small state of Piedmont, which had developed warlike traditions in the face of the territorial greed of France, Spain and Austria, took the lead over these far more powerful states and. indeed, over the rest of the world, by inaugurating the "Reale Accademia di Savoia". The sta tutes were sen t to all the Courts of Europe, and from them ca me the heirs to noble families, princes and "a motley crew from every corner of the earth, mainly Eng lish, then Russians, Germans, and Italians from the other states", as Alfieri, himself a cadet at the Royal Acad emy between 1758 and 1766, described them . Military training took priority in the institu te's programmes, even though the aim was the preparation of the leaders of the state. Programmes included the study of "military manoeuvres" and train ing in the attack and defence of fortresses. There were even plans to build a fort for this training. It appears that the fort was actually buil t, as an engraving at the Turin Application School shows the " Encampment and Attack on the Fort of the Roya l Academy of Savoy, established in Turin " The date given for the exercise is May 1st 1681, and the engraving clearly shows a fort like a 5-pointed star in pla n, the Headquarters where the "Signori Accademisti" were Eg1a Cdfirudo S,b,ud• z Duc11fz hocro10 Adminiflr ac ionis fuz c:mpoH ,artrn ... ,, , Oudioscq; pcr fcqums, qu:re ce.d mulum ha bucrint . annuu Hi(pan1cnfcs ('en tum Duplu rprz tcr quJs d cccm f,lt)d qui (quc in ipfo ingrd~u nurncr, b it. H oe prcrio finguli h a bi ratio nem, & ,Ii men u habcbun!, Omne(qu,, quotquot fupr, num,r,ra, (unt, fac ulw,s, & JTl J1· Dccr-ero lstirrqi,·o delfAccadcmia Reale di Torina. encamped , the platform from which Their Royal Highnesses were to view the exercise, and the tent of the Marquls of Sa n Germano, Grand Equerry of Savoy and Su perintendent of the Academy. The first officers turned out by the institute had their baptism of fire in the battle of Turin, in 1706, with victory over the Frenc h army. As the French retreated, Prince Eugenio's march was played; th is piece of music subseq uently became the Roya l Academy' s official march . The first reorgan ization of the institute to improve the training of officers was undertaken by King Vittor io Amedeo II in 1729. Subsequently, in 1756, cadets received a training course geared exclusively to their requirements. while theologists and top functionaries had their own classes with more suitable instru ct ions. In 1798 the Fren ch, who had occupied the state of Savoy, suppressed the Royal Academy. 120 yea rs had passed since the founding of the Academy and. despite the generally negative outcome of the clash between the Sardinian Army and Napoleon's troops, the officers of the Piedmontese army trained there had earned the merit of being the only army of the Italian States to defend the fronti ers against the French for four long years, thus outdoing 65