Not everyone knows that in 1827, in the park of the Stupinigi hunting lodge, accompanied by two Egyptian guards, arrived an Indian elephant that danced to music. It was donated by the Viceroy of Egypt Mohamed Ali to the King of Sardinia and as indicated in the registers kept by various Directors of the Museum of Zoology in Torino, it ate "50 loaves per day of 3 Genoese pounds each ... or 4 pounds of buttermilk with 16 pounds of cooked rice, 5 pounds of sugar in water, one pint of wine, two pounds a day of smoking tobacco, and smoke of smoking person".
For Fritz, as the elephant was called, a round basin was created in the courtyard of the building, with an access ramp for daily care.
The animal was a real attraction of the Lodge until, after the death of its historic guardian, in the presence of a group of visiting people, it grabbed with the trunk the new keeper and threw him to the ground, killing him.
Today, its embalmed remains are exhibited in the Regional Museum of Natural Sciences.
