 After the Italian conquest of Abyssinia in 1935-6 theatre companies including that of Umberto Sclanizza were invited to tour in the new Italian East Africa colonies, with significant government subsidies, under the pretext of bringing civilised European culture to Africa.As the Second World War approached, Umberto Sclanizza attempted to evacuate his family; his mother had gone to live in Egypt after her divorce, where she had remarried and given birth to a daughter, Ida Ruffato, in 1900.But as the British Embassy was about to issue Visas for Egypt, Italy entered the war on the side of the Axis.