The Leopard
SynopsisPlot
The Prince of Salina, a noble aristocrat of impeccable integrity, tries to preserve his family and class amid the tumultuous social upheavals of 1860s Sicily
Story
About this book
The Leopard follows Don Fabrizio, Prince of Salina, through the upheavals that reshaped Sicily in the 1860s. Garibaldi's forces have landed on the island, and the old Bourbon kingdom is collapsing. Don Fabrizio, an aging aristocrat with a deep attachment to his inherited world, watches the political landscape shift beneath his family. He is perceptive enough to understand what is coming but too rooted in his class to do much about it. Around him, younger figures adapt more willingly, and the novel traces the friction between generations as power changes hands.
Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa wrote the book drawing on his own aristocratic Sicilian background. He was himself a prince, and the novel was published posthumously in 1958, a year after his death. It became one of the most widely read Italian novels of the twentieth century. The story is set against real historical events, particularly the unification of Italy, but its focus stays close to private life: marriages, meals, social rituals, and the slow awareness that a familiar order is ending. Luchino Visconti later adapted the novel into a film released in 1963.
