Where was Netflix’s The Leopard filmed? All the filming locations from the sumptuous new adaptation
It was a brave move for Netflix to adapt The Leopard, the famous 1958 novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa about the vanishing world of the aristocracy in Sicily. The original 1963 film adaptation has legions of fans, and indeed has been how many people have discovered the magic of the book.
Il Gattopardo. Benedetta Pocaroli as Concetta in episode 102 of Il Gattopardo. Cr. Lucia Iuorio/Netflix © 2024LUCIA IUORIO/NETFLIX
The novel follows Don Fabrizio, the patriarch of the distinguished Sicilian Salina family, and his nephew, Tancredi, as the future of the family starts to head down a new path and Garibaldi’s forces, intent on completing the Risorgimento, slowly approach their home. While the novel starts and finishes in Palermo, where the family have their main home, much of it takes place at their summer palace, Donnafugata (which was inspired by the real town of Palma di Montechiaro and named for a real Sicilian palace in the countryside in the south of the island).
Watch The Leopard trailer
The Netflix adaptation, which stars Kim Rossi Stuart as Don Fabrizio, Benedetta Porcaroli as his daughter Concetta, and Deva Cassel (Monica Bellucci and Vincent Cassel’s daughter) as the nouveau riche Angelica, was filmed on location in Sicily, including the cities of Palermo, Catania, Trapani and Syracuse, which retain many of their 19th-century streetscapes, with other scenes also filmed in Rome and the surrounding Lazio countryside and Turin. As befits a book which laments the decadent, declining world of a grand aristocracy, the series is full of sun-baked palazzos with extravagant Baroque and Rococo interiors.
All The Leopard filming locations
Sicily
Palermo
Episode 1 opens with the city of Palermo preparing itself for Garibaldi’s forces to arrive. Scenes were shot in the magnificent Palermo Cathedral, while Don Fabrizio arrives to visit his daughter through the striking Baroque square known as Quattro Canti, where the four ancient quarters (canti) of Palermo all meet. Several more of Palermo’s loveliest squares make an appearance throughout, including Palazzo Comitini, Piazza Pretoria and Piazza Bellini.
Villa Valguarnera, Bagheria
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