39 Italian novels adapted into films

The Adventures of Pinocchio, also simply known as Pinocchio, is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Pescia. It is about the mischievous adventures of an animated marionette named Pinocchio and his father, a poor woodcarver named Geppetto.

The Betrothed is an Italian historical novel by Alessandro Manzoni, first published in 1827, in three volumes, and significantly revised and rewritten until the definitive version published between 1840 and 1842. It has been called the most famous and widely read novel in the Italian language.

The Black Corsair is an 1898 adventure novel written by Italian novelist Emilio Salgari. Set in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy, the novel narrates the exploits of Emilio Roccanera, Lord of Ventimiglia and his attempts to avenge his brothers, slain by the Duke Van Guld, now Governor of Maracaibo. The Lord of Ventimiglia, known throughout the Spanish Main as the Black Corsair, allies himself with some of the greatest pirates and buccaneers of the era: François L'Ollonais, Michael the Basque and Henry Morgan, vowing never to rest until he attains his vengeance.

Don Camillo and Peppone are the fictional protagonists of a series of works by the Italian writer and journalist Giovannino Guareschi set in what Guareschi refers to as the "small world" of rural Italy after World War II. Most of the Don Camillo stories came out in the weekly magazine Candido, founded by Guareschi with Giovanni Mosca. These "Little World" stories amounted to 347 in total and were put together and published in eight books, only the first three of which were published when Guareschi was still alive.

A che punto è la notte is a mystery novel written by Italian authors Carlo Fruttero and Franco Lucentini in 1979.

The Conformist is a novel by Alberto Moravia published in 1951, which details the life and desire for normality of a government official during Italy's fascist period. It is also known for the 1970 film adaptation by Bernardo Bertolucci.

The Day of the Owl is a crime novel about the Mafia by Leonardo Sciascia, finished in 1960 and published in 1961.

Il disprezzo, known in English as Contempt or A Ghost At Noon, is an Italian existential novel by Alberto Moravia that came out in 1954. It was the basis for the 1963 film Le Mépris by Jean-Luc Godard.

Don Giovanni in Sicilia is a novel by Vitaliano Brancati, published in 1941.

Equal Danger is a 1971 detective novel by Leonardo Sciascia where a police inspector investigating a string of murders finds himself involved in existential political intrigues. Set in an indeterminate country this novel is informed by the corrupt politics and the Mafia of Sciascia's experiences in 1970s Sicily.

Fontamara [fontaˈmaːra] is a 1933 novel by the Italian author Ignazio Silone, written when he was a refugee from the Fascist Police in Davos, Switzerland.

Fosca is an 1869 Italian language novel by Iginio Ugo Tarchetti, initially published in serial form. Fosca served as the basis for Ettore Scola's 1981 film Passione d'amore as well as Stephen Sondheim's 1994 stage musical Passion. Due to the success of the stage adaptation, an English translation by Lawrence Venuti was published in 1994 as Passion: A Novel.

From the Land of the Moon is a 2006 novella by the Italian writer Milena Agus. It was translated into English in 2010 by Ann Goldstein. Agus asked that the passages of her work that were written in Sardinian be kept, a wish that was respected.

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis is an Italian historical novel by Giorgio Bassani, published in 1962. It chronicles the relationships between the narrator and the children of the Finzi-Contini family from the rise of Benito Mussolini until the start of World War II.

Good Girls Don't Wear Trousers is an autobiographical novel by Lara Cardella. It was published by Mondadori in 1989, when the author was only 19.

Heart is a children's novel by the Italian author Edmondo De Amicis who was a novelist, journalist, short story writer, and poet. The novel is his best known work to this day, having been inspired by his own children Furio and Ugo who had been schoolboys at the time. It is set during the Italian unification, and includes several patriotic themes. It was issued by Treves on October 18, 1886, the first day of school in Italy, and rose to immediate success.

Indian Nocturne is a 1984 novella by the Italian writer Antonio Tabucchi. It tells the story of a man on a search for his mysterious friend in India. The book won the French Prix Médicis étranger in 1987. Alain Corneau directed a 1989 French film adaptation with the title Nocturne indien.

The Late Mattia Pascal is a 1904 novel by Luigi Pirandello. It is one of his best-known works and was his first major treatment of the theme of the mask.

The Leopard is a novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa that chronicles the changes in Sicilian life and society during the Risorgimento. Published posthumously in 1958 by Feltrinelli, after two rejections by the leading Italian publishing houses Mondadori and Einaudi, it became the top-selling novel in Italian history and is considered one of the most important novels in modern Italian literature. In 1959, it won Italy's highest award for fiction, the Strega Prize. In 2012, The Observer named it as one of "the 10 best historical novels". The novel was also made into an award-winning 1963 film of the same name, directed by Luchino Visconti and starring Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon.

The Little World of the Past is an 1895 novel by the Italian writer Antonio Fogazzaro. It was the author's most successful work, considered to be his "masterpiece". Fogazzaro finished the first draft in 1884, and spent the next decade revising it. The novel has an alpine backdrop, and is set in the 1850s during the Risorgimento. Fogazzaro modelled the two protagonists after his parents.

A Love Affair is a 1963 novel by the Italian writer Dino Buzzati. It tells the story of an architect in Milan who falls in love with a much younger ballerina. The novel has an unusually conventional narrative style compared to many of the author's other works.

I Malavoglia is the best known novel by Giovanni Verga. It was first printed in 1881. An English edition, The House by the Medlar-Tree (1890), translated by Mary A. Craig, was published in the Continental Classics series.

Marco Visconti is an 1834 historical adventure novel by the Italian writer Tommaso Grossi. It is set in the Duchy of Milan in the fourteenth century. Part of the patriotic cultural revival that led to the Risorgimento, Grossi dedicated the work to the Italian Nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini.

The Mystery of the Black Jungle is an exotic adventure novel written by Italian author Emilio Salgari, published in 1895. It features two of his most famous characters, the hunter Tremal-Naik and his loyal servant Kammamuri.

The Name of the Rose is the 1980 debut novel by Italian author Umberto Eco. It is a historical murder mystery set in an Italian monastery in the year 1327, and an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies, and literary theory. It was translated into English by William Weaver in 1983.

The Queen of the Caribbean is a 1901 adventure novel written by Italian novelist Emilio Salgari. Set in the Caribbean during the Golden Age of Piracy, the novel follows the exploits of Emilio Roccanera, Lord of Ventimiglia as he continues his attempts to avenge his brothers, slain by the Duke Van Guld, as narrated in the first book of the series, The Black Corsair. This novel focuses on the struggles between the Black Corsair's quest for vengeance and his guilt for having abandoned Honorata, his love interest and daughter of his enemy.

Requiem: A Hallucination is a 1991 novel by the Italian writer Antonio Tabucchi. Set in Lisbon, the narrative centres on an Italian author who meets the spirit of a dead Portuguese poet. Tabucchi wrote the book in Portuguese. Alain Tanner directed a 1998 film adaptation, also called Requiem.

Sandokan to the Rescue is a 1907 adventure novel by the Italian writer Emilio Salgari. It is the seventh in his series featuring the nineteenth century Malayan pirate Sandokan. It is also known by the alternative title The Reckoning.

The Satyricon, Satyricon liber, or Satyrica, is a Latin work of fiction believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as Titus Petronius. The Satyricon is an example of Menippean satire, which is different from the formal verse satire of Juvenal or Horace. The work contains a mixture of prose and verse ; serious and comic elements; and erotic and decadent passages. As with The Golden Ass by Apuleius, classical scholars often describe it as a Roman novel, without necessarily implying continuity with the modern literary form.

Senilità, translated into English as As a Man Grows Older or Emilio's Carnival, is Italo Svevo's second novel, first published in 1898. The novel's protagonist is Emilio Brentani, a failed writer torn between his longing for love and pleasure and his regret for not enjoying either.

The Shape of Water is a 1994 novel by Andrea Camilleri, translated into English in 2002 by Stephen Sartarelli.

Silk is a 1996 novel by the Italian writer Alessandro Baricco. It was translated into English in 1997 by Guido Waldman. A new English translation by Ann Goldstein was published in 2006.

The Tartar Steppe is a novel by Italian author Dino Buzzati, published in 1940. The novel tells the story of a young officer, Giovanni Drogo, and his life spent guarding the Bastiani Fortress, an old, unmaintained border fortress. The English translation was done by Stuart C. Hood. The novel was ranked 29th on Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century list.

The Tigers of Mompracem is an exotic adventure novel written by Italian author Emilio Salgari, published in 1900. It features his most famous character, Sandokan.

To Each His Own is a 1966 detective novel by Leonardo Sciascia in which an introverted academic, in attempting to solve a double-homicide, gets in too deep, with his naive interference in town politics.

The Two Tigers is the fourth adventure novel in the Sandokan series written by Italian author Emilio Salgari, published in 1904.

Two Women is a 1957 Italian-language novel by Alberto Moravia. It tells the story of a woman trying to protect her teenaged daughter from the horrors of war. When both are raped, the daughter suffers a nervous breakdown.

La vita agra, known in English-speaking countries as It's a Hard Life, is a novel by Luciano Bianciardi published in 1962 by Rizzoli. It became a best-seller in Italy and it is considered one of the most important novels in contemporary Italian literature.

Yolanda, the Black Corsair's Daughter is a 1905 adventure novel written by Italian novelist Emilio Salgari. It is the third installment of The Black Corsair series, preceded by The Queen of the Caribbean and followed by Son of the Red Corsair.