Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1896–1957) was an Italian writer whose only novel, The Leopard, depicts the decline of Sicilian aristocracy during Italian unification.

The Leopard: A novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa about a Sicilian aristocratic family during Italian unification. Lampedusa’s sole novel, published after his death, made him a major figure in Italian literature.
Palermo: The capital city of Sicily, located on the island’s northwestern coast. Lampedusa was born and died in Palermo, the city central to his social world.
Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi: An Italian musicologist and writer adopted by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. He preserved and promoted Lampedusa’s literary legacy after the author’s death.
The Leopard (1963 film): A film directed by Luchino Visconti, adapted from Lampedusa’s novel and released in 1963. The adaptation extended the novel’s reach through its lavish depiction of Sicilian aristocratic life.
Risorgimento: The nineteenth-century movement that unified the Italian states into one nation. The novel’s political upheaval is the Risorgimento as it reaches Sicily.
Giulio Fabrizio Tomasi: A Sicilian prince whose life inspired the character of Don Fabrizio in The Leopard. Lampedusa drew on his great-grandfather’s history when shaping the novel’s protagonist.
Giorgio Bassani: An Italian novelist and editor who helped bring The Leopard to publication. Bassani championed the manuscript after other publishers had rejected it.
Nino Bixio: An Italian general and politician who participated in the campaigns that unified Italy. His historical role in the conquest of Sicily informs the political setting of The Leopard.
Sicily: The largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and an autonomous region of Italy. Lampedusa’s fiction and aristocratic world are rooted in Sicilian history and society.
Lampedusa family: A Sicilian noble family from which Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa descended. The family’s aristocratic heritage supplied personal and historical material for his fiction.

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The LeopardRelated: Lampedusa’s family history and novel supplied the film’s central perspective on change.