Biography of Valerio Zurlini

Born in Bologna on 19 March 1926, Valerio Zurlini worked in the theatre during his law studies in Rome. He entered the cinema towards the late 1940s and directed various short films of a certain calibre (including "Storia di un quartiere", 1950; "Pugilatori", 1951; "Il blues della domenica", 1952; "Soldati in città", 1953), some of which won major awards.
He made his long film debut in 1954 with "The Girls of San Frediano (Le ragazze di San Frediano"), inspired by the eponymous novel by Vasco Pratolini. However, he really made his name with the "Violent Summer (Estate violenta)" (1959), a passionate love story set in 1943 towards the end of the second world war.
He showed himself to be a sensitive and perceptive observer of the ways of the heart in "Girl with a Suitcase (La ragazza con la valigia)" (1961), a melancholy description of the tormented love story between two young people from different backgrounds. "Family Diary (Cronaca familiare)" (1962) is a splendid adaptation of another novel by Pratolini, centring around the dramatic vicissitudes of two brothers.
The subsequent "The Camp Followers (Le soldatesse)" (1965) and "Seated at His Right (Seduto alla sua destra)" (1968) were less successful, but he returned to his finest form in "The Professor (La prima notte di quiete)" (1972). The last film of his career was "The Desert of the Tartars (Il deserto dei tartari)" (1976), a splendid celluloid version of the acclaimed novel by Dino Buzzati set in a suggestive "Finis Austriae" atmosphere. After spending the latter years of his life teaching at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Zurlini died in Verona on 27 October 1982.

Biography of Valerio Zurlini

Born in Bologna on 19 March 1926, Valerio Zurlini worked in the theatre during his law studies in Rome. He entered the cinema towards the late 1940s and directed various short films of a certain calibre (including "Storia di un quartiere", 1950; "Pugilatori", 1951; "Il blues della domenica", 1952; "Soldati in città", 1953), some of which won major awards.
He made his long film debut in 1954 with "The Girls of San Frediano (Le ragazze di San Frediano"), inspired by the eponymous novel by Vasco Pratolini. However, he really made his name with the "Violent Summer (Estate violenta)" (1959), a passionate love story set in 1943 towards the end of the second world war.
He showed himself to be a sensitive and perceptive observer of the ways of the heart in "Girl with a Suitcase (La ragazza con la valigia)" (1961), a melancholy description of the tormented love story between two young people from different backgrounds. "Family Diary (Cronaca familiare)" (1962) is a splendid adaptation of another novel by Pratolini, centring around the dramatic vicissitudes of two brothers.
The subsequent "The Camp Followers (Le soldatesse)" (1965) and "Seated at His Right (Seduto alla sua destra)" (1968) were less successful, but he returned to his finest form in "The Professor (La prima notte di quiete)" (1972). The last film of his career was "The Desert of the Tartars (Il deserto dei tartari)" (1976), a splendid celluloid version of the acclaimed novel by Dino Buzzati set in a suggestive "Finis Austriae" atmosphere. After spending the latter years of his life teaching at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Zurlini died in Verona on 27 October 1982.