After the armistice of 8 September Vincenzo Colella, like many Italian soldiers, was on the loose. He was surprised by the Germans at Ruviano di Caiazzo in the Caserta region, still wearing his army uniform and carrying a weapon. He was taken prisoner, taken to Rome and imprisoned in Via Tasso, where he was tortured, then moved to the Roman prison of Regina Coeli, where he shared a cell with future Presidents of the Republic, Giuseppe Saragat and Sandro Pertini. He was sentenced to death, but the sentence was not carried out, deported to Germany and taken to several concentration camps, including Mauthausen. On his return to Italy, after spending a year in hospital to regain his strength, he became a teacher in a state school in Rome. He died in 2015 at the age of 100.