“The Leopard (Il Gattopardo)”; Musings On Italian Literature
Full disclosure- I love Italy. My prior postings certainly reflect our admiration for the culture. Amalia and I attended the Loyola University Rome program a millennium ago and we have conducted a passionate love affair with the country, its culture and its people ever since. Rome has always been centre stage- it is our favourite city in the entire world. We have spent extended time in Tuscany and Umbria and have completed the grand tour of Florence, Siena, Venice and Naples. Milan and Bologna remain on our bucket list. We have made a special effort the last three years to broaden our horizons. We travelled to Puglia for a week in 2022 and found it lovely and charming. We will return for the Matera International film Festival this fall. In 2024, we were blessed to participate in a Vines Global trip to Sicily, staying in Taormina and visiting outstanding wineries on Mt Etna. It was captivating and a wonderful introduction to the island and we committed to an early return. Bingo, we are invited to a destination wedding this fall and will use it as an opportunity for 10 day journey of exploration of Sicily.
A key element of Sicily’s charm is its uniqueness. It is part of Italy, but has a history materially different than the mainland. The language is noticeably different. Sicily’s feisty personality is built on a turbulent and aggressively multi-cultural history. Sicily has been a magnet for empires for over 2000 years and each occupier made a long term impact on what you witness today. The mosaic of modern Sicily is a product of Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, French, Spaniards, Normans- a sprinkling of Americans and Brit- and even emigrants from mainland Italy. Every cultural component- music, art, food, wine, literature and architecture has been impacted by the richness of wildly disparate influences. It is INTERESTING. The women are spectacular and I hear the fellows have their own appeal as well. To do a deep dive on any society, the curious must familiarise themselves with the literature of the place. How do the locals see themselves and describe themselves through the written world? What was it like to live there? What was the role of family, religion and politics? The ancient ruins and monuments, as well as the cobbled streets come alive when you have some understanding of the context before you arrive. Don’t go in cold! For Sicily, my due diligence included chats with academics we befriended in Rome and my own research. One “MUST READ” was universally identified by every type of Sicilian aficiando - The Leopard (Il Gattopardo). This novel is considered one of the great Italian novels of the 20th century and has won every award under the sun. I read it over the holidays and recommend it enthusiastically. Then, in a pleasant surprise, Netflix announced the release of a six part series based on the book. It began to stream this month and I watched all six episodes in one day. A super binge by WFM. It happens occasionally. Great timing to discuss the book, the show and Sicily generally. Finally, the exercise was so rewarding I decided to muse a bit about other Italian literature favourites in my library.
The Leopard was written by Giuseppe di Lampedusa in the mid 1950’s. He was a product of a aristocratic, noble Sicilian family. He loved his home island and thought the world needed to hear its story. His goal was to show how Sicily had changed and how the fortunes of families like his own had declined. The narrative is set in the 1860’s, a period where the goal of Italian national unification conflicted with the existing regime and regional power structures. Sicily was ruled by the Bourbon monarchy and the island was controlled by a small group of powerful local families. Garibaldi was leading the fight for Risorgimento and Sicily was a ripe target. Sicily was taken in the 1860’s and Italy achieved total unification in 1870 when Rome fell, the Papal States collapsed and the Pope took refuge in the Vatican. The book details how the fate of one Sicilian family was impacted by these historic events. The protagonist is Prince Don Fabrizio Salina, the scion of the leading and most powerful family on the island. This guy is a true prince- a cool cat- prideful, strong, stubborn, intelligent and resourceful. He was also practical and pragmatic and eventually realised which way the wind was blowing. There are 4-5 supporting characters who play key roles and are well developed. There is romance, power struggles, violence, betrayal, religious rites, priests, soldiers, rebels, prostitutes and mucho family internal struggles. It is chaotic, but a richly rewarding story.
The message is focused on how Don Salina expertly manages the decline of his family fortune and privileges in this revolutionary situation. He doesn’t win but he survives. You know the book struck a chord because it was hated by both extremes of the political spectrum The idealistic lefties thought the book was far too kind in its portrayal of the upper class with its traditional values living the life of the super rich with servants at their beck and call in over the top palaces. The far right, bitter at their loss of status, criticised the author’s betrayal of his class. His vivid descriptions of their “foibles,” “silliness” and general “cluelessness” did not go down well with the descendants of the old aristocracy. The left could never acknowledge that the noble families did possess desirable qualities and good values. The right could never accept the reality that the system that ensconced them at the top of society was inherently unjust, unsustainable and built on the back of the rural and urban poor. Basically, a feudal society. You must appreciate the polarisation. It reminds us that our present circumstances are not historically unique.
Luigi Visconti produced a movie based on the novel in 1963. It is great cinema and Visconti is a leading member of the post World War II Italian cinematic renaissance. He, like Fellini and Antonini, was a true “auteur.” The movie was big hit and starred Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale. I saw the movie and loved it. The 45 minute concluding ballroom scene is epic. Lancaster spoke English and Delon spoke French and their monologues were dubbed, but it worked. It was risky for Netflix to invest in this new series because it was enormously expensive and would inevitably be compared to the Visconti masterpiece. Fortunately the TV series is riveting, rewarding and almost comforting television. An Italian "Downton Abbey" in some ways except Sicily is prettier than England. I recommend it and your home viewing should be accompanied by a Mt Etna red wine.
What makes the show click. The production values are high. The cast is strong. The cinematography is breathtaking. Deva Cassel, who plays Angelica is WOW! The show is a living travel brochure for Sicily. Gorgeous palaces, rich frescoes, sumptuous meals and spectacular sound track. Overall, it is sprawling, elegant and intelligent. The Prince is a complex figure and the lead actor is very believable in the role. He is married, has a big family and is so accomplished and serious that he has a private priest living with the family for spiritual sustenance. He loves his wife and she is a strong character in her own right. The Prince loves her and is proud of the family but admits her religious faith is a sexual downer. She sings the “Ava Maria” after sex and the sex must be pretty robotic because the Prince says he still hasn’t seen her “navel.” He seeks regular comfort from a wise prostitute in Palermo. The priest sits outside in the carriage during their assignations. So some humour as well. The story has a surprising feminist angle. The eldest daughter evolves from a shy convent student girl, to a besotted young adult in love with her dashing cousin, to romantic disappointment, to a rebound engagement and finally to self discovery as an independent woman who will assume responsibility for the entire estate when her father passes away. Cool and well presented- some depth here. The politics is presented in nuanced fashion. There are no heroes or perfect examples of public virtue. A unified Italy may be noble goal, but venality, violence and compromise are part of the fabric. People are self seeking and are unfaithful to their family and principles on a fairly regular basis. Lots of grey shades- certainly not a black versus white depiction of good versus evil. It is outstanding TV with vivid characters and genuine insight into Sicilian history, class dynamics and the struggle for power and progress. The final product is successful. The story is well told and it captures the complexity of Sicily and should whet your appetite for a visit.
Finally, The Leopard should be read- not just viewed. The experience triggered an urge to share recommendations on other outstanding books I have read as part of my Italian cultural immersion. There is a rich literary history going on back to Dante and Pirandello, but I am a big fan of two contemporary female writers- Elena Ferrante and Natalia Ginzburg. Ferrante is a pseudonym for a Naples based writer and I strongly recommend her Neapolitan Quarter series; My Brilliant Friend, The Story of a New Name, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay and The Story of a Lost Child. These books are also the subject of a TV series and are very well done productions. Her earlier works, The Days of Abandonment and The Lost Daughter are also compelling. Natalia Ginzburg is a generation earlier than Ferrante. She died in 1991. She is Jewish and was married to a leading anti fascist intellectual during the Mussolini era and WWII. I recommend Family Lexicon, Voices in the Ever, The Little Virtues and All Our Yesterdays. Brilliant woman- she eventually entered Parliament. The Italians don’t like discussing the Fascist years and her books are mesmerising on detailing the damage to Italian culture during Mussolini’s 22 year reign. Finally, two other Fascist era books worthy of your attention. The Garden of the Finzi-Continis by Giorgio Bassani and The Conformist by Alberto Moravia.
