Neorealism brought a feeling of liberation in the Italian culture, after many years of media censorship. This period brought to surface a whole generation of artists which, with their creations managed to change history. After the strict censorship of the fascist dictatorship, artists started to make movies and novels in which they describe the harsh reality of their background, a reality which was censored before. Many movies are based on novels and one can frequently hear that „the novel is better than the movie“. Most of the times this is just an opinion and which, by definition, it's not necessarily the truth, this is the reason why I choose this topic for my thesis. In this work I have analysed three novels from the writer Alberto Moravia and their movie adaptations. Whenever we hear about movie adaptations, the thing that comes to our mind is the literal adaptation which is nearly impossible. During the adaptation process many events are changed but the core remains unaltered, which is similar to the process of translation. In the adaptation it is the screenwriter's job to decide which parts to include, which to omit and how to represent the narration. Even if a movie is based on a novel, it deserves it's own independence. The novel serves as the foundation for the movie and so the director and the rest of the team are allowed to put their imagination at work and personally contribute to the plot. As mentioned before, the adaptation can be seen as some kind of text translation. There are three kinds of adaptation. The first can be compared to the literal translation and is considered as the highest-fidelity translation. The second kind can be put on pair with the interpretative translation in which the goal is to make a reinterpretation of the original work. The third type is more like an imitation rather than like a translation and the novel serves as the inspiration for the movie thus it has less similarities. The making of a movie, whether it's adapted from a novel or not, is not an easy process and needs more recognition. This so called „seventh art“ should not be considered of less value when compared with literature. Movies are the reasons why after a tough day we reunite with our families and friends , they allow us to relax and teach us important lessons in life.