Riccardo Freda maintained that it was himself who had the idea to adapt Romeo and Juliet, having been an admirer of William Shakespeare since his youth and that he convinced Goffredo Lombardo, who had gone bankrupt after the production of Sodom and Gomorrah, to create the production company Imprecine and set up a co-production deal with Spain for this film and Genoveffa di Brabante.

[2] Other sources such as Stefano Della Casa state that Freda was commissioned to shoot a Shakespeare adaptation by the Spanish company Hispamer Films, and accepted only as it would allow him to make a period drama, which he could inject elements of his favourite genre, the adventure film.

[6][7] Geronimo Meynier was cast as Romeo in the film, which was his final acting role.

[8] Originally, Brett Halsey was going to play the lead, with Halsey stating that Freda planned to shoot the film in English in four weeks and feared he would not have adequate time for rehearsal and turned down the role, which led to Freda and him not speaking for years.

He mistreated the crew, and to film a good chase on horseback, he did not hesitate to cripple the horses, even though he owned a stable... he always came up with ideas which I hadn't thought of, both on set as in the editing room.