Cast
- Marco Cassini as Gaetano Tognetti
- Gigi Proietti as cardinal Romeo Colombo da Priverno
- Lino Toffolo as Serafino (cardinal Colombo's servant)
- Sandra Ceccarelli as countess Flaminia Ricci
- Domenico Diele as Cesare Costa
- Francesco Venditti as Giuseppe Monti
- Jerzy Stuhr as Pierre-Jean Beckx (head of the Jesuits)
- Arnaldo Ninchi as Pope Pius IX
- Renato Scarpa as cardinal Belloni
- Greta Scarano as Teresa Ferri