''The Leopard'' ( it, Il Gattopardo ) is a novel by

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, 11th Prince of Lampedusa, 12th Duke of Palma, GE (; 23 December 1896 – 23 July 1957) was an Italian writer and the last Prince of Lampedusa. He is most famous for his only novel, ''Il Gattopardo'' (first publishe ...

that chronicles the changes in Sicilian life and society during the ''

Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

''. Published posthumously in 1958 by Feltrinelli, after two rejections by the leading Italian publishing houses

Mondadori Arnoldo Mondadori Editore () is the biggest publishing company in Italy. History The company was founded in 1907 in Ostiglia by 18-year-old Arnoldo Mondadori who began his publishing career with the publication of the magazine ''Luce!''. In 1 ...

and

Einaudi Einaudi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Luigi Einaudi (1874–1961), Italian politician *Mario Einaudi (1905–1994), Italian political scientist, son of Luigi *Giulio Einaudi (1912–1999), Italian publisher, son o ...

, it became the top-selling novel in Italian history and is considered one of the most important novels in modern

Italian literature Italian literature is written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italian people, Italians or in Languages of Italy, other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely re ...

. In 1959, it won Italy's highest award for fiction, the

Strega Prize The Strega Prize ( it, Premio Strega ) is the most prestigious Italian literary award. It has been awarded annually since 1947 for the best work of prose fiction written in the Italian language by an author of any nationality and first published ...

. In 2012, ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' named it as one of "the 10 best historical novels". The novel was made into an award-winning 1963 film of the same name, directed by

Luchino Visconti Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, stage director, and screenwriter. A major figure of Italian art and culture in the mid-20th century, Visconti was one of the fat ...

and starring

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor and producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-yea ...

Claudia Cardinale Claude Joséphine Rose "Claudia" Cardinale (; born 15 April 1938) is an Italian actress. She has starred in some of the most iconic European films of the 1960s and 1970s, acting in Italian, French, and English. Born and raised in La Goulette, a ...

and

Alain Delon Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (; born 8 November 1935) is a French actor and filmmaker. He was one of Europe's most prominent actors and screen sex symbols in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. In 1985, he won the César Award for Best Actor for h ...

. Tomasi was the last in a line of minor princes in Sicily. He had long contemplated writing a

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

based on his great-grandfather, Don Giulio Fabrizio Tomasi, another

Prince of Lampedusa The Prince of Lampedusa was a minor title in the Sicilian nobility. The first prince of Lampedusa and Linosa was Don Giulio Fabrizio Tomasi, who received the title from Charles II of Spain in 1630. In the 1840s, the Tomasi family sold the island ...

. The Lampedusa Palace in

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, like the palace in the novel, was bombed during the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It bega ...

in 1943.

The process of writing the novel

Although

was a prolific reader, until the last few years of his life he had written almost nothing for publication. He first conceived the book that became ''The Leopard'' in the 1930s, but did not follow through on the idea at that time. According to Tomasi's widow, Tomasi first conceived the novel as a story to take place over the course of one day in 1860, similar to

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

's modernist 1922 novel ''

Ulysses Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...

''. In the end, only the first chapter conformed to this plan. In 1954 Tomasi traveled in with his cousin

Lucio Piccolo Lucio Piccolo di Calanovella (October 27, 1901 in Palermo – May 26, 1969 in Capo d'Orlando) was an Italian poet. Biography Lucio Piccolo, also known as Baron Lucio Piccolo di Calanovella, was first cousin to Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, t ...

, another late-in-life author, to a literary conference in

San Pellegrino Terme San Pellegrino Terme (Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. Located in the Val Brembana, it is the location of the beverage company San Pellegrino, where its carbonated mineral water drinks are produced. Th ...

. Piccolo had been invited on the basis of his recently published poetry, and brought Tomasi as a guest. Also attending were

Eugenio Montale Eugenio Montale (; 12 October 1896 – 12 September 1981) was an Italian poet, prose writer, editor and translator, and recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Literature. Life and works Early years Montale was born in Genoa. His family were che ...

, and

Emilio Cecchi Emilio Cecchi (14 July 1884 – 5 September 1966) was an Italian literary critic, art critic and screenwriter. One English language source describes him as "an 'official' - although radically anti-academic - intellectual". He was made artistic ...

, Shortly after this, he began writing; as he wrote in 1955, "Being mathematically certain that I was no more foolish han Lucio I sat down at my desk and wrote a novel." By June 1955 he completed a version of the first chapter, conforming to his original intent of a story set in a single 24-hour period in 1860. At this time, few people around him were aware that he was writing: he had always spent large amounts of time alone; those periods were now spent at his writing desk. He finally showed a four-chapter work in progress to close associates in early 1956, corresponding roughly to the first, second, seventh, and eight chapters of the eventual novel. In May 1956, Tomasi sent a four-chapter typescript to

in Milan. That summer he wrote two more chapters (drafts of the third and fourth in the final version) and in October he sent these to Mondadori as well. Mondadori rejected the novel in December 1956, although their rejection left open the possibility of considering a future version of the same work. In early 1957 he wrote two more chapters (the eventual fifth and sixth), revised those he had already written, and sent typescripts to several people. With Tomasi's permission, his student Francesco Orlando sent a copy to literary agent , daughter of

Benedetto Croce Benedetto Croce (; 25 February 1866 – 20 November 1952) was an Italian idealist philosopher, historian, and politician, who wrote on numerous topics, including philosophy, history, historiography and aesthetics. In most regards, Croce was a lib ...

, leaving the author anonymous. Another recipient, bookseller and publisher Fausto Flaccovio, liked the book but was not in the business of publishing fiction; he suggested sending it to

Elio Vittorini Elio Vittorini (; 23 July 1908 – 12 February 1966) was an Italian writer and novelist. He was a contemporary of Cesare Pavese and an influential voice in the modernist school of novel writing. His best-known work is the anti-fascist novel '' Co ...

, unsurprisingly this rather traditional novel did not appeal to modernist Vittorini, who found it "rather old-fashioned" and "essayish". Eventually, the copy sent to Croce bore fruit, but not in Tomasi's lifetime. In 1957 he was diagnosed with lung cancer; he died on 23 July 1957 in Rome. sent the manuscript to the writer

Giorgio Bassani Giorgio Bassani (4 March 1916 – 13 April 2000) was an Italian novelist, poet, essayist, editor, and international intellectual. Biography Bassani was born in Bologna into a prosperous Jewish family of Ferrara, where he spent his childhood wit ...

, who brought it to the publisher Feltrinelli. On 3 March 1958, Feltrinelli contacted Tomasi di Lampedusa's widow to make arrangements to publish the novel. It was published in November 1958, and became a bestseller, going through 52 editions in less than six months. ''Il Gattopardo'' was quickly recognized as a great work of Italian literature. In 1959 Tomasi di Lampedusa was posthumously awarded the prestigious

for the novel.

Plot summary

Most of the novel is set during the time of the ''

'', specifically during the period when

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as ''Gioxeppe Gaibado''. In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as ''Jousé'' or ''Josep''. 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, patr ...

, the leader of the famous Redshirts, swept through Sicily with his proletariat army known as The Thousand. As the novel opens in May 1860, Garibaldi's Redshirts have landed on the Sicilian coast and are pressing inland; they will soon overthrow the

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and a ...

and incorporate it into the unified Italian Kingdom under Victor Emmanuel. The

plot Plot or Plotting may refer to: Art, media and entertainment * Plot (narrative), the story of a piece of fiction Music * ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava * The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003 Other * ''Plot' ...

focuses upon the aristocratic Salina family, which is headed by Prince Fabrizio. Don Fabrizio is the patriarch of the family as well as the keeper of its strict code of conduct and

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

ritual. Prince Fabrizio finds marriage with his overly puritanical wife to be physically unsatisfying, and thus keeps a series of mistresses and courtesans as well as indulging in his hobby of amateur astronomy. He is drawn to his nephew Prince Tancredi Falconeri whom he sees as having noble qualities. This affection is somewhat diminished when he discovers that Tancredi has joined Garibaldi's Redshirts. On a trip to the Salina estate in the town of Donnafugata the Prince learns that the mayor, Don Calogero Sedara, has become wealthy through dodgy business transactions and political influence and that his wealth now rivals that of the Salinas. When Sedara introduces his extraordinarily beautiful daughter, Angelica, Tancredi is smitten with her, to the dismay of the Prince's daughter Concetta, who loves Tancredi. Although aware of his daughter's feelings, the Prince accepts the inevitable and helps arrange Tancredi's betrothal to Angelica. The two pass a blissfully innocent period of engagement. Fabrizio is offered the position of a Senator in the new Italian state but turns it down. Angelica is introduced to Palermo society at a sumptuous ball and despite her background slips easily into the role of future countess. The narrative then jumps forward by two decades and finds Prince Fabrizio on his deathbed, surrounded by family. The Prince considers that he will be the last true prince of the Salinas, the last leopard. A final chapter takes place in 1910 when Concetta, now seventy, is living in the family home with two of her sisters.

Reception

The novel was met by criticism from people of different political views. The novelist

, who had rejected an earlier draft of the book for his own press, the author

Alberto Moravia Alberto Moravia ( , ; born Alberto Pincherle ; 28 November 1907 – 26 September 1990) was an Italian novelist and journalist. His novels explored matters of modern sexuality, social alienation and existentialism. Moravia is best known for his d ...

, and the poet

Franco Fortini Franco Fortini was the pseudonym of Franco Lattes (10 September 1917 – 28 November 1994), an Italian poet, writer, translator, essayist, literary critic and Marxist intellectual. Life Franco Fortini was born in Florence, the son of a Jewish ...

, among others, condemned the book as "

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

". Moravia wrote that it expressed ruling-class "ideas and view of life." The equally leftist

Louis Aragon Louis Aragon (, , 3 October 1897 – 24 December 1982) was a French poet who was one of the leading voices of the surrealist movement in France. He co-founded with André Breton and Philippe Soupault the surrealist review ''Littérature''. He wa ...

vehemently disagreed, seeing it as a "merciless" criticism of that class; many among the surviving Sicilian nobility certainly saw it as such, and were scandalized that one of their own could write such a thing. The book embodies multiple opinions. The Savoyard Piedmontese are presented as naive about Southern Italy, full of plans that will never match the reality of the region, while the book's main representative of the old

Bourbon Bourbon may refer to: Food and drink * Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash * Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels * Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit * A beer produced by Bras ...

regime, Don Fabrizio's brother-in-law Màlvica, is a fool. In his biography of Tomasi,

David Gilmour David Jon Gilmour ( ; born 6 March 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and member of the rock band Pink Floyd. He joined as guitarist and co-lead vocalist in 1967, shortly before the departure of founding member Syd Barrett. P ...

sees Tomasi as criticising the Risorgimento (

Unification of Italy The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century Political movement, political and social movement that resulted in the Merger (politics), consolidation of List of historic stat ...

) "from both sides, from the viewpoints of both

Gramsci Antonio Francesco Gramsci ( , , ; 22 January 1891 – 27 April 1937) was an Italian Marxist philosopher, journalist, linguist, writer, and politician. He wrote on philosophy, political theory, sociology, history, and linguistics. He was a fou ...

…," describing the failure of the revolutionaries to truly ally with the peasants, "…and the Bourbons," describing a unified Italy's substitution of even worse elements into the island's elite. Despite or because of this controversy, ''The Leopard'' ultimately gained great critical acclaim. In 1959, it won Italy's highest award for fiction, the

Analysis

Historical and autobiographical elements

The novel contains both historical and autobiographical elements. During the time he was writing, Tomasi stated in a letter to his friend Baron Enrico Merlo di Tagliavia that Don Fabrizio, the "'Prince of Salina is the Prince of Lampedusa, my great-grandfather Giulio Fabrizio," but also (in a letter to Guido Lajolo) "friends who have read it say that the Prince of Salina bears an awful resemblance to myself." While Don Fabrizio's circumstances and many of his traits are clearly those of di Tomasi's great-grandfather, this is not necessarily so true of his opinions. In a further letter to Lajolo, after he had written more of the novel, Tomasi doubled down on the autobiographical aspect of the character: "Don Fabrizio expresses my ideas completely." David Gilmour, in his biography of Tomasi, sees the character as mainly autobiographical but adds that there is also a fair amount of "the person the writer would like to have been" in Salina's "arrogant confidence, his overt sensuality, his authority over others…" Similarly, Tomasi wrote to Merlo di Tagliavia that that "Tancredi is, physically and in his behavior, Giò omasi's adopted son Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi">Gioacchino_Lanza_Tomasi.html" ;"title="omasi's adopted son Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi">omasi's adopted son Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi morally a blend of and Pietro Lanza di Scalea">his son Pietro." To Lajolo, he wrote, that in terms of appearance and habits, Tancredi is "a portrait of Giò; as for his morals, however, Giò is fortunately very much better than him." In his circumstances and actions, Tancredi also owes a lot to Giulio Fabrizio's nephew, , and to some of the latter's friends and associates. Some of the reaction against the book by Sicilian aristocrats came from their taking Tancredi and his wife Angelica as "portraits of Corrado Valguarnera and his wife Maria Favara," then being unhappy that they were not accurate portraits. Gilmour remarks that the discrepancies from these historical figures are "not surprising because [Tomasi] had not tried to make them very similar." Some of the strongest historical and autobiographical elements of ''The Leopard'' are in the portraits of the places of Tomasi's life, especially his childhood. The town of Donnafugata is certainly

Santa Margherita di Belice Santa Margherita di Belice ( Sicilian: ''Santa Margarita'') is a town in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region of Sicily. It lies in southwest Sicily, above sea level, near where the borders of the Province of Agrigento, Province of Tr ...

(near

Palma di Montechiaro Palma di Montechiaro ( scn, Parma di Muntichiaru) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Agrigento, Sicily, southern Italy. Many Greek archaeological findings have been found near the town. Formerly known as Palma, in 1863, Montechiaro was ...

) and the palace there the Palazzo Filangeri-Cutò, though considerably larger and more elaborate than the original. Villa Salina outside Palermo is the Villa Lampedusa in Lorenzo outside Palermo. The Palazzo Lampedusa in Palermo does not appear in the novel, although several of its rooms do. Despite being universally known in English as ''The Leopard'', the original Italian title is ''Il Gattopardo'', "The

Serval The serval (''Leptailurus serval'') is a wild cat native to Africa. It is widespread in sub-Saharan countries, except rainforest regions. Across its range, it occurs in protected areas, and hunting it is either prohibited or regulated in ran ...

", the name of a much smaller species of cat found in North Africa. The symbol on the Tomasi di Lampedusa coat of arms is a serval.

Locations

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

* The

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...

* The

(

Map A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...

) *

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

(1861–1946) * Salina — the fictional Corbèra palatial estate in

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

, about five miles north of the center of

. * Donnafugata — the fictional name for the town

(near

) and the Palazzo Filangeri-Cutò. Both the palace and adjacent Mother Church were destroyed by an earthquake in 1968.

Historical characters

(1807−1882), the military leader of the

Expedition of the Thousand The Expedition of the Thousand ( it, Spedizione dei Mille) was an event of the Italian Risorgimento that took place in 1860. A corps of volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi sailed from Quarto, near Genoa (now Quarto dei Mille) and landed in Ma ...

(11 May to 1 October 1860) from

Marsala Marsala (, local ; la, Lilybaeum) is an Italian town located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth in Sicily. The town is famous for the docking of Gius ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

to northern

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

(

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

) * Ferdinand II, a

King of The Two Sicilies. Reigned from 8 November 1830 to 22 May 1859. Died shortly before the narration of ''The Leopard'' begins. The Bourbons ruled the kingdom from

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and lived in the

Caserta Palace The Royal Palace of Caserta ( it, Reggia di Caserta ) is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern Italy, constructed by the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies as their main residence as kings of Naples. It is the largest palace erected in Europe ...

. * Francis II, the last Bourbon King of the Two Sicilies. Reigned from 22 May 1859 to 20 March 1861. *

Victor Emmanuel II Victor Emmanuel II ( it, Vittorio Emanuele II; full name: ''Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di Savoia''; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 March 1861, when he assumed the title o ...

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Savo ...

King of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

from 23 March 1849 to 17 March 1861, and King of Italy from 17 March 1861 to 9 January 1878. Resident at the

Royal Palace of Turin The Royal Palace of Turin ( it, Palazzo Reale di Torino) is a historic palace of the House of Savoy in the city of Turin in Northern Italy. It was originally built in the 16th century and was later modernized by Christine Marie of France (1606–1 ...

Fictional characters

The Corbera Family: * Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina — born 1810 * Maria Stella, Princess of Salina * Carolina — eldest of seven children — born 1840 * Francesco Paolo — eldest son and heir — born 1844 * Concetta — second daughter — born 1848 * Tancredi Falconeri — orphan son of the prince's sister — born 1834 * Bendicò — the family dog Others at Salina: * Father Pirrone —

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

family priest — helps the prince with mathematical computations * Pietro Russo — steward * Ciccio Ferrara — accountant * Mademoiselle Dombreuil — governess Characters at Donnafugata: * Calogero Sedàra — Mayor of Donnafugata * Angelica — Calogero's daughter — born 1844 * Monsignor Trotolino — priest at Holy Mother Church * Ciccio Genestra — notary * Onofrio Rotolo — steward * Toto Giambono — doctor * Ciccio Tumeo — organist at Holy Mother Church — hunting partner of the prince * Count Carlo Cavriaghi — friend of Tancredi from Lombardy * Knight Aimone Chevalley di Monterzuolo — bureaucrat from Piedmont

Adaptations

The novel served as the basis for a film directed by

. Starring

, it won the ''

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

'' at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

cut the film dramatically for its original 1963 release, but in 1983 Visconti's vision was re-released with English subtitles and the famous ballroom scene restored to its full 45 minute running time. The novel was adapted for radio by

Michael Hastings Michael or Mike Hastings may refer to: *Michael Hastings (playwright) (1938–2011), British playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and poet *Michael Abney-Hastings, 14th Earl of Loudoun (1942–2012), English-born Australian rice farmer, Scottish aris ...

and broadcast on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

in 2008. The radio play starred

Tom Hiddleston Thomas William Hiddleston (born 9 February 1981) is an English actor. He gained international fame portraying Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), starting with ''Thor'' in 2011 and most recently in the Disney+ series ''Loki'' in 2021 ...

as Tancredi,

Hayley Atwell Hayley Elizabeth Atwell (born 5 April 1982) is a British and American actress. Born and raised in London, Atwell studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and made her stage debut in a 2005 production of James Kerr's translation ...

as Angelica,

Stanley Townsend Stanley Townsend (born August 1961) is an Irish actor. Personal life Townsend was born and brought up in Dublin. After attending Wesley College, Dublin, he studied mathematics and civil engineering at Trinity College. While there he joined the ...

as Don Fabrizio, and

Julie Legrand Julie Legrand (born in Pitlochry, Scotland) is a British television, film, and stage actress best known for her role as Jeanette Dunkley on ''Footballers' Wives''. She has also guest starred in a wide variety of British television shows, as we ...

as Princess Stella.

Quotation

"If we want everything to stay as it is, everything has to change." (spoken by Tancredi) The Italian text is ''"Se vogliamo che tutto rimanga com'è bisogna che tutto cambi."'' "We were the

Leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

s, the

Lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

s, those who'll take our place will be little

jackal Jackals are medium-sized canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word "jackal" has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-backed ...

hyena Hyenas, or hyaenas (from Ancient Greek , ), are feliform carnivoran mammals of the family Hyaenidae . With only four extant species (each in its own genus), it is the fifth-smallest family in the Carnivora and one of the smallest in the clas ...

s; and the whole lot of us, Leopards, jackals, and

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus ''Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated s ...

, we'll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth." (spoken by Don Fabrizio) The Italian text is "''Noi fummo i Gattopardi, i Leoni; quelli che ci sostituiranno saranno gli sciacalletti, le iene. E tutti quanti, Gattopardi, sciacalli e pecore, continueremo a crederci il sale della terra."''a page on the Figurella site
/ref>

Current editions

* An edition of ''Il gattopardo'' following the manuscript of 1957 is published by * Milano : Feltrinelli Editore, Universale Economica *

Archibald Colquhoun Archibald Colquhoun may refer to: * Archibald Colquhoun (politician), Scottish politician and lawyer * Archibald Colquhoun (translator) Archibald Colquhoun (1912–1964) was a leading translator of modern Italian literature into English. He studied ...

's English translation, ''The Leopard'', originally published in 1960 by Collins (in the UK) and Pantheon Books (in the US) is available from ** London : The Harvill Press, Panther ** London : David Campbell, Everyman's Library ** New York: Pantheon Books ** New York: Pantheon Books (Paperback)

Notes

References

Sources cited

* *

External links

Il Gattopardo - Audiobook
on ''archive.org''.

"The Novel and the Film: resemblances and differences". In Italian. Accessed 15 October 2006.

* ttp://www.vanityfair.com/online/oscars/2010/05/scorsese-restores-the-leopard-and-revives-canness-golden-age.html ''Vanity Fair'' article on recent restoration
Personal tours of Lampedusa sites in Palermo and Sicily
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopard, The 1958 novels Fiction set in 1860 Fiction set in 1861 Fiction set in 1862 Fiction set in 1883 Fiction set in 1910 Novels set in the 1860s Novels set in the 1880s Novels set in the 1910s Italian historical novels Italian novels adapted into films Novels published posthumously Novels set in Sicily 20th-century Italian novels Strega Prize-winning works Italian unification Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa