Trivia

The church scene, where Germans bomb the church full of people, was based on real life events that took place in San Miniato (the birthplace of Paolo Taviani and Vittorio Taviani). However, more than two decades after this movie was made, the case was reopened and it was discovered, that the fatal bomb actually belonged to the American army, and hit the church accidentally.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

The poster for the English version of this film - The Night of San Lorenzo, can be seen in the room of a character in the Tamil language film from India - Mouna Raagam (1986)

The film was selected by Italy as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 55th Academy Awards.