Valerio Zurlini (19 March 1926 – 26 October 1982) was an Italian stage and film director and screenwriter. During his law studies in Rome , he started working in the theatre.

In 1943, he joined the Italian resistance . Zurlini became a member of the Italian Communist Party . He filmed short documentaries in the immediate post-war period before he directed his first feature film in 1954, The Girls of San Frediano .