For the reopening of the Salle Richelieu, the main theater of the Comédie Française located within the Palais Royal, which had been closed for restorations for five years, the director of the Company, Pierre Dux, chose the colossal romantic drama by Musset set in Renaissance Florence and entrusted its realization to Zeffirelli, a Florentine who had triumphed on Parisian stages about a decade earlier with several productions: not only the French version of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and the tour of the Italian productions of "Romeo and Juliet" and "La Lupa", but also "Norma" and "Tosca", the last legendary performances of Maria Callas.
The Archive holds a rich documentation of the set design conceived by Zeffirelli to manage the numerous scene changes required to set the 38 scenes of the drama, which also includes details of the stage lighting plan.
In his autobiography, Zeffirelli recounts that the rehearsals were exhausting because the actors of the Comédie did not feel comfortable with his working method, which involved constant dialogue between the director and the performers in pursuit of a shared interpretation. However, the final result was well received: the performance was recorded by the French television and remains one of the few complete recordings of a dramatic work staged by Zeffirelli.