In a sparse cell with his feet chained to the wall, Alessandro was woken by the bell summoning the monks of the Holy Order of Saint Bernard of Montjoux to Lauds. His window gave him a spectacular view of the jagged ridges of the Alpine peaks, where even in summer the mountain tops remained snow-capped. However, his feet had never set foot upon them, for ever since the day of his arrival he had been confined within the monastery. Although it was a balmy morning in summer, he shuddered to think what would await him during hostile winter months when the pass into the mountains was inaccessible, and a fierce Alpine wind blew down the Grand Saint Bernard.
With a monk either side of him, Alessandro was escorted into the chapel where he was coerced by his ‘guardians’ to participate in all daily
