During the Montenotte Campaign in the spring of 1796, Provera led a 4,000-man Austrian-Sardinian division in the 21,000-strong army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont. The Sardinians were allied to a 32,000-man Habsburg army led by Johann Beaulieu. On 12 April at the Battle of Montenotte, Bonaparte's French army managed to drive a wedge between the two allied armies. Pushing west, the French forces encountered part of Provera's division on 13 April at the Battle of Millesimo and pushed it back. To cover the retreat, Provera and about 900 men occupied a ruined castle from which they repelled repeated French assaults. On the morning of 14 April, Provera and his men were compelled to surrender.