'The Leopard' – the TV series: locations in Palermo, Sicily, Rome, Turin
The Leopard, the series based on Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel, will be released by Netflix in 2025.
The 6-episode series was produced by Fabrizio Donvito, Daniel Campos Pavoncelli, Marco Cohen and Benedetto Habib for Indiana Production and by Will Gould, Frith Tiplady and Matthew Read for Moonage Pictures.
Kim Rossi Stuart plays Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina; Benedetta Porcaroli is Concetta, Deva Cassel and Saul Nanni are Angelica and Tancredi. The cast includes Paolo Calabresi, Francesco Colella, Astrid Meloni and Greta Esposito.
The series was directed by Tom Shankland, supported by Giuseppe Capotondi (episode 4) and Laura Luchetti (episode 5). The series, created by executive producer Richard Warlow who wrote it with Benji Walters, rediscovers the modernity in the story of the Prince of Salina and his family, which is that of Italy’s past and present.
The director of photography is Nicolaj Bruel; the costumes are by Carlo Poggioli and Edoardo Russo, the sets by Dimitri Capuani. The original music is by Paolo Buonvino. The series was written by Richard Warlow, who is also the creator and executive producer, with Benji Walters.
Filming locations for The Leopard
Four months of filming began in Rome in April 2023 and locations included Sicily, around Palermo, Syracuse and Catania and Turin.
The journey undertaken by the Salina family to the imaginary mountain village of Donnafugata to escape the heat of Palermo, where the prince compares the surrounding landscape to his state of mind – "deserted mountains like desperation" and "funereal countryside" – was filmed in the desert-like landscape of the Cannizzola badlands. Donnafugata was created in the square of Ortigia, the island that encompasses the oldest part of Syracuse, completely transformed by set dressing into a small 19th century rural village for the production.
The many informal family meals at Villa Salina were shot at Palazzo Comitini, Palermo, in a large room decorated with stuccoes, frescoes and Sicilian majolica flooring with an imposing central dining table; seating areas and groups of plants were placed at the back of the room. Another location was Villa Valguarnera in Bagheria.
The interiors of the villas and palaces, filmed mostly in Rome, feature fabrics that are faded and dusty, symbolizing the decadence of the nobility. In many situations, several locations were used and made to fit together as if it were one. Almost all the locations were furnished from scratch and brought to life by the production, and experienced through objects (plus plants and flowers, as the Prince of Salina is a botany enthusiast) that tell the characters' story. Villa Parisi in Frascati hosted the dinner scene with the Sedara family in the Palazzo di Donnafugata.
Some filming took place in Turin: exterior scenes, at piazza Carignano, via Carlo Alberto, piazza Palazzo di Città, featured extras in period costumes and 19th-century horse-drawn carriages; while the Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento Italiano (National Museum of the Risorgimento) and the hall of the Chamber of Deputies of the Subalpine Parliament were used for interiors scenes.
Plot ot 'The Leopard'
Based on one of the greatest Italian novels of all time, The Leopard is an epic, surprising and sensual tale, set in Sicily during the riots of 1860. At the heart of the story is Don Fabrizio Corbera, the unforgettable Prince of Salina, who leads a life filled with beauty and privilege. But the Sicilian aristocracy feels threatened by Italian unification, and Fabrizio realizes that the future of his house and family is in danger.
In order to survive, Fabrizio must make new alliances, even when this means going against his principles, and is faced with a choice that seems impossible. Don Fabrizio must organize a marriage to save the future of his family, that between rich and beautiful Angelica and his nephew Tancredi but, in doing so, he will break the heart of his beloved daughter Concetta.
The series uses a contemporary gaze to explore universal themes as old as mankind: power, love and the cost of progress.
Trailer
Luchino Visconti adapted the story for the screen in 1963: the film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, among other prizes. The lead roles of Don Fabrizio, Tancredi and Angelica were played by Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale. The unforgettable scene where Angelica waltzes with Don Fabrizio was shot in the Sala degli Specchi at Palazzo Valguarnera Gangi in Palermo (All the locations featured in Luchino Visconti’s film The Leopard).