Becoming professional
Hired as an actor in the new Compagnia Italiana di Prosa directed by Luchino Visconti, Zeffirelli moves to Rome, leaving behind Florence and the unfinished studies of architecture. The first production in which he appears, next to the best stage actors of the time, is Delitto e castigo, a play by Gaston Baty from the novel Crime and punishment by Dostoievski.
In the years to come Zeffirelli comes back to Florence only to stage acclaimed productions of plays and operas; but towards the end of his life, it is in Florence that he establishes the Foundation that bears his name.
