The only male son of an old noble family, Giuseppe Tomasi, Duke of Palma and Prince of Lampedusa, was born at Palermo in 1896. Through the pages of his novel the famous author of Il Gattopardo succeeds in recreating that particular and fascinating atmosphere of Palermo, and Sicily in general, at the time of the princes and barons. An important place among his sources of inspiration is Villa Lampedusa, the old noble paternal residence standing in the big Parco della Favorita, which in Il Gattopardo he called Villa Salina. Today quite different from the novel, partly due to the damage caused by bombing during the war and partly to deterioration and neglect, the villa, which is being restored, can be visited at the same time as exhibitions, summer concerts and other cultural events. Not far from here, Villa Niscemi, another noble villa that inspired the writer, was probably the one described in the novel as Villa Falconieri, the residence of Prince Tancredi.Even the country house of Santa Margherita Belice and the lifestyle of the writer as a child played a crucial part in the creation of Il Gattopardo. A mansion with over 300 rooms, courtyards, guest-rooms, stables and a large garden, and a symbol of the opulence of those years. Here, Tomasi di Lampedusa had his first encounter with theater when Hamlet was performed by an itinerant company in the hall inside the large residence. His mother had him learn French and German through the wet-nurses, whereas he subsequently learned to speak English perfectly on his own account. He approached law studies but did not finish them because a new passion, that of writing, was leading him to write one of the world's favorite novels which, in 1959, two years after his death, won the Strega Prize. The author of Il Gattopardo was a reserved and quiet person who spent most of his time