There follows a series of encounters in which the two meet up with a number of formerly famous historical figures whose souls were in Limbo or Hell, and they listen to some of their tales told in flashback.

These characters include Homer, Horace, Ovid, Lucanus, Cleopatra, Dido, the traitor Caiphus, Count Ugolino, Peter of Vigna, Francesca Da Rimini and her lover Paulo, Brutus and Cassius, Mohammed, and Helen of Troy.

L'Inferno's depictions of Hell closely followed those in the engravings of Gustave Doré for an edition of the Divine Comedy, which were familiar to an international audience,[2][4] and employed several special effects.

[8][9] Some American state film censor boards required removal of the hell sequences from L'Inferno used in Go Down, Death!, such as one where a woman's bare breast is momentarily seen.

[2] An international success, it grossed more than $2 million in the United States, where its length gave theater owners an excuse for raising ticket prices.