Ferzetti starred in Michelangelo Antonioni's "The Girlfriends" ("Le Amiche", 1955), as a downbeat, struggling artist named Lorenzo, with Eleonora Rossi Drago, Franco Fabrizi, and Valentina Cortese in the other leading roles. The film, shot on location in Turin, was adapted from Cesare Pavese's novella "Tra donne sole" (1949). Around the same time, he starred in "Un po' di cielo" (also from 1955), directed by Giorgio Moser, and "Donatella" (1956) opposite Elsa Martinelli, under director Mario Monicelli. The film was screened at the 6th Berlin International Film Festival. Ferzetti appeared in the crime film, "Parola di ladro" (1957), for directors Nanni Loy and Gianni Puccini, opposite Abbe Lane, Nadia Gray, and Andrea Checchi. He later appeared in Antonio Pietrangeli's "Souvenir d'Italie", a romantic comedy which saw him feature alongside June Laverick, Isabelle Corey, and Ingeborg Schöner. Ferzetti appeared in "Ballerina e Buon Dio" (1958), directed by Antonio Leonviola, followed by "Racconti d'estate", under the directorship of Gianni Franciolini, based on a story by Alberto Moravia. Ferzetti was cast in this romantic comedy, set in the Tigullio Gulf, alongside Alberto Sordi, Michèle Morgan, Marcello Mastroianni, Sylva Koscina, Dorian Gray, Franca Marzi, Franco Fabrizi, and Jorge Mistral. In 1959, Ferzetti starred alongside Andrée Debar and Isa Miranda as Bernard Turquet de Mayenne in the French historical comedy, "Le secret du Chevalier d'Éon". Directed by Jacqueline Audry, the film is set in Burgundy in 1728. He later appeared in Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia's "Hannibal", alongside Victor Mature, Rita Gam, Milly Vitale, and Rik Battaglia. The film is set during the Roman Republic; Ferzetti played Fabius Maximus.