Is The Leopard by Lampedusa worth reading?

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1896-1957) never saw his novel published. Two publishers turned it down; it finally appeared from Feltrinelli in 1958, after his death, became a bestseller and won the Strega Prize in 1959. A complete edition followed in 1969. Not a bad record for a debut that nobody wanted.

What it is about

The story opens in Sicily in May 1860, as Garibaldi's Redshirts advance on the island during the Risorgimento, the long process that unified Italy. At the centre is Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina, the head of an old aristocratic family. His nephew Tancredi, the orphan the Prince sees as his true successor, joins the revolutionaries, and later marries Angelica, the daughter of Calogero Sedàra, a newly rich local mayor. The novel follows the family across the following decades and closes in 1910.

The big subject is change: the slow decline of the old nobility and the rise of a new moneyed middle class, seen from inside a palace by a man clever enough to understand what is happening and too tired to fight it. It is often read as a meditation on how societies change, and on what stays the same when everything seems to move.

Why it is worth your time

• The Prince. An amateur astronomer, a hunter, an unhappy husband and a man increasingly given to melancholy, fatalistic contemplation. He is one of the great characters in European fiction.
• The texture. The omniscient voice and the sensuality of the writing make Sicily feel physically present; you finish chapters a little dusty.

How to approach it

You don't need the history first. The novel gives you what you need. If you want a single sentence of background: in 1860 Sicily was part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and Garibaldi's expedition was one of the decisive episodes of Italian unification. That is enough.

Read it slowly. It is not a plot-driven book. The pleasure is in the scenes and the Prince's mind, so give it evenings rather than commutes.

Don't expect a hero's journey. Nothing much is won. That is the point.

Look out for the shape. Chapters can be weeks, months or even decades apart, and the last one jumps to 1910. The gaps are deliberate, not missing pages.

Book or film first?

Luchino Visconti's 1963 film, starring Burt Lancaster as the Prince, won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and is famous for its ballroom scene, drawn from the novel's chapter set at a ball. A Netflix miniseries followed in 2025. Both are worth seeing, but read the book first if you can: the film shows you the palace, while the novel lets you live inside the Prince's head, and that is where the real story is.