Pompeo Robutti Gentleman, a military engineer and treatise writer

In 1657, the major European powers clashed under the walls of Alessandria in one of the final acts of the Franco-Spanish conflict, which ended two years later with the Treaty of the Pyrenees. The siege pitted the Spanish-Lombard army, who had come to the aid of the besieged Alessandrians in an agreement with the Swiss from the canton of Grisons, against the Austrians and the Duke of Mantua. The Franco-Savoyard army took advantage of their alliance with the Duke of Modena. French troops surrounded the city. Pompeo Robutti, an Alexandrian from the city's ruling class, distinguished himself during the siege. Engaged in surveying, tracing, and testing, he was present at the sieges of Valencia (1635), Tortona (1642), and Alessandria (1657). He combined the prestige given to him by his birth family with the cultural training he gained in the Milanese sphere. He wrote the treatise L'Architettura Militare di Pompeo Robutti gentiluomo alessandrino intrattenuto per S. M. C. in Alessandria come apare il suo privilegio dato in Madrid alli 18 dicembre 1650, which is now preserved at the State Archives of Alessandria (approximately 60 folios).