On 1 August 1943 Da Zara took command of the 5th Division, made up of the two old battleships Duilio and Andrea Doria, stationed at Taranto.

After commanding the military department of the Ionian Sea and inspector of the naval forces, he retired from active duty in October 1946.

Da Zara was among the founders of "Armata Italiana della Libertà" (Italian Army of Liberty), an anti-Communist paramilitary.

[1][2][3][4] After publishing a volume of memoirs (Pelle d'ammiraglio, "Admiral's skin") in 1949, Da Zara died at Foggia in 1951.

[5] Da Zara never married, but he was a notorious ladies' man by his conduct in high society in Italy and the Far East - during his time in China, his conquests seem to have included Wallis Simpson,[6] future wife of King Edward VIII.