Vitelli was not one to throw in the towel and shift his focus to something easier when faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges. With an established career as an artilleryman, he quickly realized that heavy artillery pieces were difficult to deploy and nearly impossible to move once positioned. Frustrated by the loss of cannons every time the enemy forced his troops to retreat or by his inability to support an attack by swiftly repositioning his guns where they were needed, he decided to find a solution: making the cannons and their carriages lighter.
After researching the varying strengths of different woods and metals, and following multiple failed experiments, he succeeded in designing artillery pieces light enough to be pulled by a horse, with or without assistance from the gunners. Although these cannons had smaller calibers than the usual ones, they compensated with significantly faster deployment times.
It didn’t take long for his "galloper guns," as they came to be known, to prove their worth in demonstrations orchestrated before princes and nobles. His services soon became highly sought after, and today these artillery pieces enjoy a well-earned reputation after countless successes on the battlefield.
