"General Lamarmora is requested to read the enclosed letter himself or have it read by a person in his absolute confidence. C. Cavour".
Alfonso La Marmora is, above all with Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, the hero of the Crimean War in which he participated at the age of 51, in 1855, as supreme commander of a contingent of 18,000 men. Alfonso had worked hard at a diplomatic level before the conflict, for example going to London to meet Queen Victoria and weaving a network of contacts that proved to be of fundamental support for Cavour's plans.