Reality and literary fiction come back overbearingly in the places of the Leopard. From the Castle of Donnafugata to the Palace of Salina; from the grumpy Commissioner to the disillusioned Prince: Don Fabrizio.
He is aware that the world to which he belongs, the nobility, is close to ruin and the prospects of the “new” are only illusions.
“For everything to remain as it is, everything must change”, says his nephew Tancredi, whom he himself encouraged to seek his fortune and space in the emerging class. He no longer has any faith in the ‘new’ Don Fabrizio but remains motionless.
He only confides his pessimism to the stars and resignedly awaits death. It really takes the Cabbasisi to fearlessly accept the changing destiny, yearning for peace.
The Cabbasisi del Principe ardently represent the Sicily of the Leopard. The dazzling light of the sun shining in the lemons of Syracuse; the fresh mint of temperance that appeases the heat; the orange blossoms which, timid but strong, tear open that crust which the heat has generated in the Sicilian soil and which its own inhabitants preserve.
