Ferzetti had a supporting role in Flavio Calzavara's "Sigillo rosso" alongside Gino Cervi and Carla Del Poggio, but his first leading role came in "Lo Zappatore" (both from 1950), a film which focused on the life of peasants and farm workers during the interwar and great depression period. Roles now came in abundance for Ferzetti, from the crime comedy "Welcome, Reverend!" ("Benvenuto, reverendo!", 1950) alongside Aldo Fabrizi, Massimo Girotti, and Lianella Carell, to Luis Trenker's film "Barrier to the North" (1950), to Guido Brignone's "The Naked and the Wicked" ("", 1951) and "Inganno" (1952), to Curzio Malaparte's drama, "The Forbidden Christ" ("Il Cristo proibito", 1951), to Antonio Pietrangeli's "Empty Eyes" ("Il sole negli occhi", 1953). He starred in the successful biopic of composer Puccini under Carmine Gallone, "Puccini" (also 1953), and reprised the role in "House of Ricordi" ("Casa Ricordi", 1954), also featuring Roland Alexandre as Gioacchino Rossini. Ferzetti starred in Mario Soldati's "The Wayward Wife" ("La Provinciale", 1953), a Cannes Film Festival nominee for best film, which saw him play the role of a professor who falls in love with a glamorous star (Gina Lollobrigida). This comedy drama involves the tale of a Romanian countess who forces "Gemma" to become a prostitute. For his performance, Ferzetti received an award from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, and further cemented his status as a leading actor in Italy by appearing alongside Lollobrigida. Ferzetti appeared in Marcello Pagliero's comedy drama based on the play by Luigi Pirandello, "Vestire gli ignudi" (1954), playing the character of Ludovico Nota alongside Pierre Brasseur, Manlio Busoni, and Paolo Ferrara, and in "Camilla" (also 1954), under the directorship of Luciano Emmer.