Set in the 1860s, The Leopard tells the spellbinding story of a decadent, dying Sicilian aristocracy threatened by the approaching forces of democracy and revolution. The dramatic sweep and richness of observation, the seamless intertwining of public and private worlds, and the grasp of human frailty imbue The Leopard with its particular melancholy beauty and power, and place it among the greatest historical novels of our time.

Although Giuseppe di Lampedusa had long had the book in mind, he began writing it only in his late fifties; he died at age sixty, soon after the manuscript was rejected as unpublishable. In his introduction, Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi, Lampedusa's nephew, gives us a detailed history of the initial publication and the various editions that followed. And he includes passages Lampedusa wrote for the book that were omitted by the original Italian editors.

Here, finally, is the definitive edition of this brilliant and timeless novel.

硃塞佩•托馬西•迪•蘭佩杜薩（Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa，1896—1957），意大利現代著名作傢，生於西西裏島巴勒摩城的一個沒落貴族的傢庭。本人是世襲的蘭佩杜薩親王，自幼天資聰穎，勤奮好學，興趣廣泛。經曆過兩次世界大戰，當過軍官。後因對法西斯政權不滿，長期旅居英、法等國。直到40年代初，纔重返西西裏傢中。戰後定居於巴勒莫，研究歐洲文學，為青年開設文學講座。1957年在羅馬去世。在生命最後三年中，寫齣長篇小說《豹》和幾個短篇，均在其身後齣版。《豹》獲得意大利斯特雷加文學奬，被譽為意大利文學史上承前啓後的傑作。後又被著名導演維斯康蒂改編成電影，獲得戛納電影節金棕櫚奬。