Career
During his law studies in Rome, he started working in the theatre. In 1943, he joined the Italian resistance. He filmed short documentaries in the immediate post-war period and in 1954 directed his first feature film, The Girls of San Frediano, his only comedy.
Zurlini made his name as a director with his second feature film,, starring Eleonora Rossi Drago and Jean Louis Trintignant.
In 1961 Zurlini filmed Girl with a Suitcase, a successful intimist drama, starring Claudia Cardinale, who became a film star in Italy, and Jacques Perrin, who would become Zurlini"s favorite actor. Zurlini had a masterful skill for screen adaptations.
Both The Girls of San Frediano and Family Diary were based on Vasco Pratolini"s work. Zurlini"s last film,, produced by Jacques Perrin and featuring an all-star ensemble, was based on Dino Buzzati"s novel of the same name.
The visual style of Zurlini"s adaptations was informed by Giorgio de Chirico, Giorgio Morandi and Ottone Rosai"s paintings.
During the last years of his life Zurlini taught at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. He killed himself in Verona on 27 October 1982. After Zurlini"s death his work fell into relative obscurity, but regained popularity in the 2000s.
In the early 2000s several Zurlini retrospectives were met with success internationally.
In 2006 the NoShame Films released The Desert of the Tartars, Violent Summer and Girl With a Suitcase on Digital Video Disc.