In Sicily, in front of the Mortelle locality, a village of Messina, is the wreck of the Italian ship Valfiorita, a very important historical testimony of the Second World War. The wreck is located at a depth of 55-70 meters and its visit is not easy due to the strong currents of the Strait of Messina that limit access to it in limited periods of the day.

The Valfiorita prepared to leave for Messina bound for Palermo, where it would have to transport supplies to reinforce the island's defenses. On June 27, the civilian commander of the ship urgently requested the missing safety equipment, and in particular the 55 carbon dioxide cylinders from the fire extinguishing system. On the night of July 7, 1943, the ship sailed from Taranto to Messina, without any means of containing a fire in case of attack, despite the load. "The dramatic thing was that it was carrying more than 4,000 tons of supplies, including ammunition and 450 tons of diesel in drums, in addition to a crew of 45, another 193 soldiers.On July 8, after a brief stopover in Messina, the Valfiorita set sail for Palermo, escorted by the modern Ardimentoso escort torpedo boat. mile, the convoy, advancing at 12 knots, circled Capo Faro and took the direct route to Palermo.

At 22:29, the British submarine Ultor, commanded by Lieutenant George Edward Hunt, sighted the Valfiorita and Ardimentoso and at 22:44, at 38 ° 18'5 ″ N and 15 ° 24 ′ E (off Capo Rasocolmo, the coast of Sicily), launched four torpedoes targeting the Valfiorita which was hit eight miles by 240 ° from Capo Milazzo (off the coast of Mortelle), by two of the torpedoes in rapid succession: the first hit in the engine room , which was flooded and destroyed, the second in warehouse number 4 (or behind it), on the left side. The detonations of the torpedoes unleashed a violent fire, which caused the explosion of the ammunition depots located in the central quarterdeck, which then engulfed the bridge and threatened to spread towards the stern. With the complete lack of firefighting equipment, despite the desperate efforts of the crew, nothing could be done to contain the flames. While an announced tragedy was taking place on the Valfiorita, the Ardimentoso, it dropped the depth charges (more than thirty depth bombs) for more than an hour, but none of them exploded near the submarine. Around 11 pm, the military commander Strafforello, after consulting with the civil commander Salata, had to order the abandonment of the ship with the few remaining means of rescue (rafts and two lances). While the Ardimentoso carried out the rescue of the survivors, the strong current began to push the ship towards the coast. What was left of the Valfiorita quickly sank when the bow section broke around noon on July 9, 1943, at about 38 ° 18 'N and 15 ° 27' E, eight miles from Capo Milazzo. Of the 45 civilians and 22 soldiers (18 Italians and 4 Germans) who made up the Valfiorita's crew, 13 civilians lost their lives and 11 soldiers were wounded.

According to the newspapers, the Ardimentoso recovered 115 survivors, while another five or six reached the coast in a lifeboat. Two days later, Anglo-American forces landed in Sicily.