The Leopard

Content Warning: The source material and this section of the guide include references to sexual content and a possible joke about rape. 

The Leopard begins in Sicily in May 1860. The Salina family is part of the Sicilian aristocracy at a time of great social upheaval. The story begins as the Salina family ends the recitation of the Rosary and prepares for the rest of their day. The drawing room is decorated in lavish style, with murals and paintings in which ancient gods and deities hold up “the blue armorial shield of the Leopard” (2), the family sigil. Princess Maria Stella ushers the children from the room as Prince Fabrizio, the tall, powerful patriarch of the family, towers above them. Prince Fabrizio has German parentage, giving him a fair complexion that stands out in Sicily. His German ancestry also influences his stern, “authoritarian temperament” (3) and morality, as well as his tendency toward abstraction and intellectualism. The people and culture of Palermo, the capital of Sicily, have softened these tendencies within the Prince, but he continues to appear arrogant and contemptuous of his more pragmatic and practical family. Fabrizio is fond of astronomy and is almost sure that the stars follow a pattern he has calculated.