Alberto Moravia, born Alberto Pincherle, was one of the leading Italian novelists of the twentieth century whose novels explore matters of modern sexuality, social alienation, and existentialism.

He is best known for his anti-fascist novel Il Conformista , the basis for the film The Conformist by Bernardo Bertolucci. Other novels of his translated to the cinema are Il Disprezzo filmed by Jean-Luc Godard as Le Mépris ; La Noia , filmed with that title by Damiano Damiani in 1963 and released in the US as The Empty Canvas in 1964; and La Ciociara filmed by Vittorio de Sica as Two Women .