In 1706 a large amount of money was found to be missing from the  Santissima Annunziata's funds, and Biancardi was eventually suspected of embezzlement.
Leaving his wife and 13 children behind, he fled Naples for Rome.
There he befriended Emanuele d'Astorga, a composer and son of a Sicilian aristocrat, who used Biancardi's poems as texts for several of his cantatas and serenatas.
Over the next two years Biancardi and d'Astorga wandered through Italy together.
Left destitute after they were robbed by their servant in Genoa, they managed to scrape together some money when d'Astorga set a libretto for an impresario of the opera house there.
They then headed for Venice, but fearful that their servant was still pursuing them they changed their names.
D'Astorga became "Giuseppe del Chiaro".
Biancardi became "Domenico Lalli", the name by which he was known for the rest of his career and which appears in the Venetian records of his second marriage.

On their way to Venice, they were arrested and imprisoned for not having passports and passing themselves off as Romans.
They were only freed after Lalli wrote a letter to the Governor of Milan, recounting the robbery by their servant and their subsequent misfortunes.
They arrived in Venice in 1709 and made the acquaintance of the influential poet and librettist Apostolo Zeno.
This was accomplished by d'Astorga writing a fake letter to Zeno purporting to be from Baron d'Astorga in Palermo and recommending to him two young men in need of patronage—"Giuseppe del Chiaro, maestro di cappella", and "Domenico Lalli, professor of literature and lute player".
Lalli and d'Astorga then spent some time in Mantua under their new identities, but remained in constant fear that visitors from Rome would recognize them.
D'Astorga left for Barcelona when he was offered a post at the court of Charles III, and Lalli returned to Venice.
In 1706 a large amount of money was found to be missing from the  Santissima Annunziata's funds, and Biancardi was eventually suspected of embezzlement. Leaving his wife and 13 children behind, he fled Naples for Rome. There he befriended Emanuele d'Astorga, a composer and son of a Sicilian aristocrat, who used Biancardi's poems as texts for several of his cantatas and serenatas. Over the next two years Biancardi and d'Astorga wandered through Italy together. Left destitute after they were robbed by their servant in Genoa, they managed to scrape together some money when d'Astorga set a libretto for an impresario of the opera house there. They then headed for Venice, but fearful that their servant was still pursuing them they changed their names. D'Astorga became "Giuseppe del Chiaro". Biancardi became "Domenico Lalli", the name by which he was known for the rest of his career and which appears in the Venetian records of his second marriage.
On their way to Venice, they were arrested and imprisoned for not having passports and passing themselves off as Romans. They were only freed after Lalli wrote a letter to the Governor of Milan, recounting the robbery by their servant and their subsequent misfortunes. They arrived in Venice in 1709 and made the acquaintance of the influential poet and librettist Apostolo Zeno. This was accomplished by d'Astorga writing a fake letter to Zeno purporting to be from Baron d'Astorga in Palermo and recommending to him two young men in need of patronage—"Giuseppe del Chiaro, maestro di cappella", and "Domenico Lalli, professor of literature and lute player". Lalli and d'Astorga then spent some time in Mantua under their new identities, but remained in constant fear that visitors from Rome would recognize them. D'Astorga left for Barcelona when he was offered a post at the court of Charles III, and Lalli returned to Venice.
Domenico Lalli