Two years after its first American performance, "Death of a Salesman" was staged in Italy by Luchino Visconti, with great success. Zeffirelli collaborated on the production as an assistant director, alongside Franco Enriquez. This was the first encounter for both Zeffirelli and Visconti with the dramaturgy of Arthur Miller.
The production was such a success that, five years later, it was revived for an italian tour with the same settings, the same direction and the same lead actors, but with some changes in the cast to reflect the fact that, as the years had gone by, the younger actors had matured: Giorgio De Lullo, who in the first edition played the role of Biff, the eldest son, had founded his own theatre company and therefore did not join the cast; Marcello Mastroianni, who in the first edition played the role of Happy, the younger son, in the second edition played the role of Biff; and Franco Interlenghi, who had originally played a friend of the boys, then played the role of Happy. As for Zeffirelli, by 1956 he had also grown; he had become a director and was primarily staging operas.