Zurlini made his name as a director with his second feature film, Violent Summer (1959), starring Eleonora Rossi Drago and Jean Louis Trintignant.

The Camp Followers (1965) was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival, where it won the Special Silver Prize.

[4] Zurlini's last film, The Desert of the Tartars (1976), produced by Jacques Perrin and featuring an all-star ensemble, was based on Dino Buzzati's novel of the same name.

[2][6] After Zurlini's death, his work fell into relative obscurity,[1] but regained popularity in the 2000s after several of his retrospectives were met with success internationally.

In 2006, NoShame Films released The Desert of the Tartars, Violent Summer and Girl With a Suitcase on DVD.