He was born at Savigliano, near Cuneo and then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the son of a general officer in the Sardinian (Piedmontese) army who was killed at the battle of Mondovì in 1796. The family had been recently ennobled and was not rich. Santarosa entered the service of Napoleon during the annexation of Piedmont to France, and was sub-prefect of La Spezia from 1812 to 1814. He remained, however, loyal in sentiment to the house of Savoy, and, after the restoration of the king of Sardinia in 1814, he continued in the public service. During the brief campaign of the Sardinian army on the south-eastern frontier of France in 1815 he served as captain of grenadiers, and was afterwards employed in the ministry of war. The revolutionary and imperial epoch had seen a great development o