“For more than twenty-five centuries we’ve been bearing the weight of a superb and heterogeneous civilization, all from outside, none made by ourselves, none that we could call our own,” wrote Giuseppe di Tomasi Lampedusa in his novel “Il Gattopardo,” or “The Leopard.” Published posthumously in 1958, the story about a prince and his family in the midst of the great changes in Sicily during the period before and after Italy’s unification became an international classic soon after. Then, in 1963, it became a stunning, epic film by Luchino Visconti and starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, and Claudia Cardinale.
