Zurlini uses the setting to highlight the jarring intrusion of war into a world of leisure:
: Critics have described the film as "the history of human beings documented and preserved on film with great empathy," capturing the desperation of finding privacy in a world of air raids and falling dictators. Violent Summer(1959)
: While the characters engage in a "forbidden love affair," they are essentially "dancing on the edge of a volcano". The elite families are shown as fragile entities that could collapse at any moment as the old Italy begins to crumble. A Shift from Peace to Terror Zurlini uses the setting to highlight the jarring