During World War II, Fort Missoula was turned over to the Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, for use as an Alien Detention Center. Between 1941 and 1944, the ADC held 1,200 non-military Italian men, 1,000 Japanese resident aliens, 23 German resident aliens, and 123 Japanese, Latin, and South Americans. The Italian men were merchant seamen, World’s Fair employees, and the crew of the Italian luxury liner, the Conte Biancamano, seized in the Panama Canal. Many of the Italians, who referred to the Fort as “Bella Vista,” spent the war as paid laborers replacing American men who were off fighting overseas. They worked in forestry, farming, in the sugar beet industry, and constructing Highway 12. Umberto Benedetti was one of the Italian nationals that was held at Fort Missoula during that time. A cabinet maker and prolific artist, he created several works of art including paintings and wooden model boats. Benedetti and several of the Italian men from the Conte Biancamano put on plays at the Fort Missoula Recreation Center for the enjoyment of the internees and Missoulians alike. This painting is a half sketch, half painting of an interior building scenery set piece for a small opera performed between 1941 and 1943. Umberto made Missoula, MT, his home after his incarceration and lived within the community until his passing in 2009. He joined the United States Army and served two stints in Korea. He obtained citizenship, and after pursuing college degrees in Seattle and Sand Francisco, returned to Missoula. He worked his later years on the campus of the University of Montana. Throughout his life, he worked tirelessly with the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula to share the experience of the Italians held here and donated several of his own personal belongings to our permanent collections.