Seven years ago, I tried to read this but abandoned it after a few pages as I knew next to nothing about the political context in which the book was set. This time, with some information about the Risorgimento, I tackled the book and can confirm it lives up to its tag of a ‘masterpiece’
When Garibaldi’s forces invade Siciiy in 1860, the aristocracy comes to terms with the end of the world as they knew it. The Leopard excavates the world-weariness of the Prince of Salina when he deals with his daughter’s love affair, his nephew’s marriage to a peasant who rose up the ranks and finally with the scariest of them all – his own mortality.
The 1964 movie adaptation by Visconti is probably one of the few exhibits of a movie doing justice to the book. The most glaring omission was the flash-forward in time section of the book in which, decades later, all of the Prince’s possessions get tossed away without a second thought.
Sruthi and I also sat through the 2025 Netflix adaptation which was utter rubbish when compared to Visconti’s work. I enjoyed this Michael Wood essay on the Visconti movie. Recommended.
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