''The Lions of Sicily'' ( it, I leoni di Sicilia) is a 2023 Italian

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romance film, romances, adventure f ...

television series based on ''The Florios of Sicily'' by Stefania Auci. It premiered at the

Rome Film Festival International Rome Film Fest is a film festival that takes place in Rome during the month of October. The name in Italian is Festa del Cinema di Roma. Sections The Rome Film Festival official program is divided into several sections: Cinema d'Og ...

on 23 October 2023 and was released on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...

on 25 October 2023.

Premise

The series follows the Florio family of

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

in the 1800s.

Cast

Main

Michele Riondino Michele Riondino (born 14 March 1979) is an Italian actor. Born in Taranto, Riondino enrolled at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Art, graduating in 2000. In 2006, he acted in ''The Black Arrow'', a TV series broadcast by Canale ...

as Vincenzo Florio *

Miriam Leone Miriam Leone (born 14 April 1985) is an Italian actress, presenter and model, winner of the Miss Italia beauty contest in 2008.(14 September 2008)Miss Italia è Miriam Leone Siciliana dai capelli rossi ''La Repubblica'' (in Italian) Biography M ...

as Giulia Portalupi *

Donatella Finocchiaro Donatella Finocchiaro (born 16 November 1970) is an Italian actress. She has appeared in more than 20 films since 2002. She starred in ''The Wedding Director'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. ...

as Giuseppina Saffiotti ** Ester Pantano as young Giuseppina *

Vinicio Marchioni Vinicio Marchioni (born 10 August 1975) is an Italian actor. He appeared in more than thirty films since 2006. Selected filmography References External links * 1975 births Living people Italian male film actors People of Calabri ...

as Paolo Florio *

Eduardo Scarpetta Eduardo Scarpetta (13 March 1853 – 12 November 1925) was an Italian actor and playwright from Naples. Biography Although not from a theatrical family, he was on the stage by the age of four and is today best remembered as the creator of a c ...

Ignazio Florio Ignazio () is a masculine Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: Arts *Ignazio Collino (1736–1793), Italian sculptor *Ignazio Fresu (born 1957), Italian sculptor *Ignazio Gardella (1905–1999), Italian architect and designer ...

Paolo Briguglia Paolo Briguglia (born 27 May 1974) is an Italian film, stage and television actor. Life and career Born in Palermo, Sicily, Briguglia studied at the Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico in Rome, graduating in 1998. He made his ...

as Ignazio Florio * Adele Cammarata as Giovanna d’Ondes

Supporting

*Emmanuele Aita as Peppe Messina *Massimo De Lorenzo as Frangipane *Clara Tramontano as Angela Florio *Michele Ragno as Giovanni Portalupi * Claudia Pandolfi as Duchess Spadafora *

Antonio Gerardi Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

as Carlo Filangieri * Tony Sperandeo as Canzonieri * Sandra Ceccarelli as Antonia Portalupi *Reed Stokes as Ben Ingham

Episodes

Production

On 6 July 2022, it was announced that

had greenlit and began filming the series in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Production then moved to

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

, specifically

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 ...

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 ...

Trapani Trapani ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an impor ...

, and

Cefalù Cefalù (), classically known as Cephaloedium (), is a city and comune in the Italian Metropolitan City of Palermo, located on the Tyrrhenian coast of Sicily about east of the provincial capital and west of Messina. The town, with its populati ...

. Filming concluded in December 2022. Filming locations in Palermo included

Palazzo Comitini Palazzo Comitini, complete name Palazzo Gravina di Comitini, is a Baroque palace located on Via Maqueda #100, adjacent to the church of San'Orsola in the quarter of Albergheria, in the historic center of Palermo, region of Sicily, Italy. Presen ...

Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi is an urban palace, first of the Princes Valguarnera and then of the Princes Gangi, situated in the Piazza Croce dei Vespri, in the ancient quarter of the Kalsa in the city of Palermo, region of Sicily, Italy. The palace ...

Palazzo dei Normanni The Palazzo dei Normanni (Norman Palace) is also called Royal Palace of Palermo. It was the seat of the Kings of Sicily with the Hauteville dynasty and served afterwards as the main seat of power for the subsequent rulers of Sicily. Since 1946 ...

, Palazzo Alliata di Villafranca,

Santa Maria dello Spasimo Santa Maria dello Spasimo, or Lo Spasimo, is an unfinished Catholic church in the Kalsa neighborhood in Palermo, Sicily, on Via dello Spasimo. Construction of the church and accompanying monastery of the Olivetan Order began in 1509 with a papal ...

Piazza Pretoria Piazza Pretoria is at the limits of the district of Kalsa, near the corner of Cassaro with Via Maqueda, just a few meters from the Quattro Canti, the intersection where all the four ancient quarters intersect, in the city of Palermo, region of S ...

, Piazza Bellini, Piazza Verdi,

Via Maqueda Via Maqueda, also known as "''Strada Nuova''" (''New Street''), is an important street of Palermo. Together with the Cassaro, Palermo, Cassaro, it represents the main axis of the historic centre and provides access to a number of important sights, ...

, and

Corso Vittorio Emanuele Corso may refer to: * Corso (surname) * Corso, Boumerdès, a commune in Boumerdès Province, Algeria * Council of Organisations for Relief Service Overseas, see Jenny Gill * Via del Corso, a main street in Rome * "CORSO," a song by rapper Tyler, th ...

Release

The series premiered at the

on 23 October 2023. On 4 August 2023, it was announced that the first four episodes would be released on

on 25 October and the remaining four would be released on 1 November. A teaser trailer for the series was released on 22 September 2023. The official trailer was released on 2 October, featuring the song "Durare" by

Laura Pausini Laura Pausini (; born 16 May 1974) is an Italian singer. She rose to fame in 1993, winning the newcomer artists' section of the 43rd Sanremo Music Festival with her debut single "La solitudine", which became an Italian standard and an internat ...

References

External links

*
The Lions of Sicily
' on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lions of Sicily, The 2020s Italian television series 2020s Italian drama television series 2023 Italian television series debuts Star (Disney+) original programming Historical television series Italian-language television shows Period family drama television series Television series based on actual events Television series set in the 19th century Television shows based on Italian novels Television shows set in Palermo Television shows set in Sicily