In June of 1940, at the outbreak of Italian intervention in World War II, the bronze statues and sculpted marble reliefs were loaded on to ships for transport to Ethiopia.

In 1952, the sculptor Romano Romanelli proposed its placement in Siracusa, at the present scenographic locale in the piazza dei Cappuccini overlooking the Ionian sea.

Surrounding the monument are bronze sculptures of elements of the army, including infantry, navy, air force (with bomb), and local African muslim mercenaries, known as Askari.

[1] In 1999, veterans of the paratroop regiments place a plaque in memory of the second world war Lieutenant Coronel Giovanni Alberto Bechi Luserna.

In 2012, the Siracusan cultural association, Lamba Doria, placed a plaque recalling the victims of the sinking of the Conte Rosso transport ship in 1941, while in the Siracusa port.