After boarding box cars, the 5th Medium left Lolli Station, Palermo, on 10 November 1943 towards their more permanent area in Zafferana. Traveling by train, the entire 5th Medium reached the Villa Angela on the slope of Mount Etna by 11 November 1943. The next few days in Zafferana consisted of continued training and inspections (and numerous swims in the Mediterranean Sea). On the 16-17 November 1943, the 7th and 23rd Batteries moved to Ionia. The training and checking of equipment continued, with events like mail arriving from Canada and even a minor earthquake occurring. The discipline was very strict, although it was noted that members of the 5th Medium were able to send a few parties into the city of Catania to gather wine. Also the amount of dysentery from men trading cigarettes for contaminated figs, oranges, dates and nuts were numerous because of the unsanitary handling of the food by the peasants.