The study of the Allied prisoners’ experience of captivity in Italy not only offers a new understanding of captivity during the Second World War, but it also sheds light on a relatively unknown chapter in the history of Italy’s participation in the war. In fact, the unprecedented role of captor (and therefore victor, albeit thanks to the decisive contribution of the German allies) overturns the stereotyped—and at the same time instrumental—image of the Italian armed forces as overwhelmed by, and ultimately victims of, a war that, in the collective imagination, was not wanted but merely ‘endured’. A war that the Italians would have fought with inadequate resources and low morale, quickly and almost willingly surrendering to stronger and more motivated enemies. But this was not always the case, not even in captivity.