Oh, I definitely agree. The 45 minutes ball sequence is memorable and an inspiration for many films to come, including Scorsese in The Age of Innocence and the wedding scene in The Godfather.
Set in Sicily at the time of the unification with the Italian Kingdom (1860), if you are interested in the mafia as a historical/social phenomenon you'll find in this film some explanations for it. But what this film is really about is the defeat of one world (the old, noble one Prince of Salina represents) to another, a new one, vulgar and cynical. It is important that "everything changes without anything really changes".....Plus you got magnificent settings, most elegant costumes, furniture, even in the smallest details, as in every Visconti's movies. He had a special sense of beauty and elegance like no other director, before or after him.

Go get the DVD, Don Vercetti, you'll love it!