The play was controversial at its time for its political content, which caused massive outrage amongst far-right supporters in Italy; Fo received threatening letters, was assaulted in Rome by fascist groups, while another performance was disrupted by a bomb scare.
The play is considered "an attempt to demystify and debunk the traditional history-book image" of Christopher Columbus.
Fo said: "I wanted to attack those Italian intellectuals who, with the centre-left and the Socialist Party in the government, had discovered power and its advantages and leapt on it like rats on a piece of cheese.
He performs a history of Christopher Columbus, of which Roberto Rebora, writing in Sipario in 1963, says: The play about Columbus presents the Genovese hero as an obsessive, wily individual, pitting his wits against Isabella, Filippo, Giovanna the madwoman, the (Spanish) court, sailing ships, enemies, a trial, and eventual obscurity, a consequence of the fact that cunning and unscrupulousness (even to honourable ends) is not enough if the powers that be are not on your side.'
It was later broadcast on RAI 2 in May 1977, and revived at the Centro Dramatico Nacional in Valencia, Spain in 1992 (again directed by Fo).