Italian novels

I read voraciously, but I have always read English and American works. This is self-detrimental, and I need to expand my horizons desperately.

PS:  Dark Elf, I do have a copy of "The Name of the Rose," in my to-read stack, which keeps growing no matter how much I continue reading.....I will get to it in book form, I am certain.

I hardly ever log in anymore these days, because my interest in prog has waned considerably, and too many of the non-music threads have been taken over by people who - to be charitable - are in dire need of help. However, this thread was too interesting to miss, and so here I am. Obviously, like Lorenzo I am a native speaker of Italian, and so I am able to read every suggestion in the original - which is always the best thing, though not feasible for most people here. Though I wouldn't call myself an expert in Italian 20th-century fiction, I have read my fair share, and am glad to add my own recommendations to Lorenzo's.

First of all, grab a copy of Carlo Levi's Christ Stopped at Eboli (Cristo si è fermato a Eboli), which is probably my favourite novel in Italian. Though strictly speaking not a novel, and definitely not a work of fiction (it is autobiographical), it is absolutely riveting, and essential reading to anyone interested in the recent history of Italy. The film based on the novel is none too shabby either, and was filmed on location. Speaking of cinema, Il gattopardo (The Leopard) by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa is another favourite of mine, also recommended to anyone interested in history. Visconti's movie starring Burt Lancaster is good, but the book is better. Both these books are set in Southern Italy, and deal with some of the issues that are widely known as "questione meridionale" (the Southern problem). Pirandello's short stories set in his native Sicily also belong to this subgenre of Italian fiction, so to speak. In terms of fiction set in Sicily, however, in my view nothing is better than Giovanni Verga's I Malavoglia (The House by the Medlar Tree), which was published in 1881. It is extremely depressing, but beautiful. Verga's short stories - which include Cavalleria rusticana, familiar to opera fans - are also well worth a read.

On the other hand, I have to admit I am not a fan of La coscienza di Zeno, but I have to agree with Lorenzo that it is too important to miss. 

Zeno's Consciece is a wonderful novel! Humorous.

It is the first European novel about psycho-analysis. His author, Italo Svevo (real name Ettore Schmitz) was a friend of James Joyce.

1) What is your favorite Italian novel of the twentieth century?

2) If you have two or three novels that you really like, please write them down in order of preference. And one last thing, if you can, explain why.

Other questions.

3) Have any of you read Italo Svevo's "La coscienza di Zeno" (Zeno's conscience)? In Italy it is considered the most beautiful and important novel of the twentieth century (and I agree).

4) Have any of you read any novel or theatre play by Luigi Pirandello?

5) And have any of you ever read some novel by Carlo Emilio Gadda?

These three writers, today, are considered by almost unanimity not only Italian but European critics to be the greatest Italian writers of the twentieth century.

Sorry for the many questions, but I'm curious to know what you read about Italian novels.