On the weekend, I visited the Palazzo Reale, which was first built in the 1600s, and was lived in by the kings of Sardinia and then Vittorio Emanuele II for the first few years of Italy being a nation (the early 1860s). Some things I discovered:

• There were zero comfortable-looking chairs in the entire building. Being royalty=not so great after all?
• I can only assume that the habit of making dogs wear vests is derived from the tradition of armour for war horses:
  

  This was one of the less freaky-looking ones.

   

• Based on statues, king Carlo Alberto had the best moustache.
• Of course, the time to be told that photos are not allowed in the museum is just as you’re about to get a shot of a statue with a killer mo.