during air raids of allied forces to milan in august 1943, the museum was severely damaged by firebombs, whereby an important part of the collections and the library get lost. parisi's office was also destroyed. from a collection of benthic decapods, parisi collected during a cruise to the red sea in 1923 and 1924, just a few glasses were saved, as well as a brief note on the mantis shrimps (stomatopoda) collected during this expedition, which was published in 1940. after the war parisi devoted to the reconstruction of the museum, where he was actively supported by his successor edgardo moltoni.