0:00:07 > 0:00:11"At the top of the hill, among the tamarisks and cork trees
0:00:11 > 0:00:14"appeared the real Sicily.
0:00:16 > 0:00:23"Compared to which, the baroque towns and orange groves are mere trifles.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28"Aridly undulating, comfortless and irrational with no lines that
0:00:28 > 0:00:33"the mind could grasp, conceived in a delirious moment of creation.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37"A sea, suddenly petrified in an instant,
0:00:37 > 0:00:41"when a change of wind had flung waves into a frenzy."
0:00:45 > 0:00:49'When I think of Sicily, this is the landscape I imagine -
0:00:49 > 0:00:55'hot, dry, unchanging, timeless.'
0:00:55 > 0:01:00Today we think of Sicily as part of Italy but her way of life
0:01:00 > 0:01:03and culture and cuisine,
0:01:03 > 0:01:07they are a product of 25 centuries of invasion.
0:01:07 > 0:01:12Greeks, Arabs, Normans and the Spanish have all left their mark,
0:01:12 > 0:01:18but Sicily is a kingdom ruled by the sun and a violent landscape.
0:01:18 > 0:01:21This book, The Leopard, is a love letter to Sicily.
0:01:21 > 0:01:29It was written in 1955 by Giuseppe Tomasi, Prince of Lampedusa, an impoverished nobleman.
0:01:29 > 0:01:33He died before it was published, so he never knew that it would
0:01:33 > 0:01:37become one of the best-selling novels written in Italian.
0:01:37 > 0:01:44The story is based on his own family and looks back to a time of war, conflict and revolution.
0:01:44 > 0:01:51It is a passionate description of what he loved and what his family had lost.
0:01:51 > 0:01:56The aristocratic life he knew as a child has certainly disappeared,
0:01:56 > 0:02:01along with so many of the places he loved, but some things are changeless.
0:02:01 > 0:02:08You can still find the extraordinary landscape that he evokes with such artistry.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10You can still eat the food.
0:02:10 > 0:02:15The meals in the novel are central to the lives of his characters,
0:02:15 > 0:02:17and Lampedusa obviously loved food.
0:02:17 > 0:02:24He describes it with the same sensuality as all the other elements of the story.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27I am going to trace the story of The Leopard
0:02:27 > 0:02:30and the life of its enigmatic author.
0:02:30 > 0:02:35I'll cook the meals he describes to see if I can still eat like a prince
0:02:35 > 0:02:39in this dark and dazzling island.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52The Leopard - Il Gattopardo in Italian -
0:02:52 > 0:02:56caused a sensation when it was published in 1958.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59It remains a bestseller today.
0:02:59 > 0:03:06Visconti turned it into a blockbuster movie with Burt Lancaster as the sardonic Prince.
0:03:07 > 0:03:11The Leopard is set in the 1860s,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14at the time of the unification of Italy.
0:03:14 > 0:03:18And the book raised fundamental issues about the union
0:03:18 > 0:03:23that was still unresolved as Italy recovered from the Second World War.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27The novel sparked a national debate and today it is regarded
0:03:27 > 0:03:31as a key work in understanding Italian history.
0:03:31 > 0:03:34Italy is a very young country.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37Not yet 150 years old.
0:03:37 > 0:03:43Now, history is often easier to remember with some simple visual aids.
0:03:43 > 0:03:47In 1860 Sicily and southern Italy,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50known as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies,
0:03:50 > 0:03:55was ruled from Naples by the inept and Conservative Bourbon dynasty.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58Northern Italy, seen as progressive and modern,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02was ruled from Turin by the Savoy king, Victor Emmanuel.
0:04:02 > 0:04:07In between were the papal states ruled from Rome by the Pope.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11I'm afraid his Holiness has never had his own biscuit.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16The movement for a united Italy was led by Giuseppe Garibaldi
0:04:16 > 0:04:21who had allied himself with Victor Emmanuel, the Savoy King.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25Garibaldi biscuits incidentally are unknown in Italy.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29They were invented by the English company Peek Freans,
0:04:29 > 0:04:32to cash in on the popular enthusiasm
0:04:32 > 0:04:36when Garibaldi visited London in 1864.
0:04:36 > 0:04:41Garibaldi was born in Nice when it was still part of Italy.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45He was a bit cross when Victor Emmanuel gave it to the French.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47But that's another story.
0:04:47 > 0:04:51As the novel opens, Garibaldi is on his way to Sicily
0:04:51 > 0:04:55to begin his campaign against the Bourbon king.
0:04:55 > 0:05:00He was taking a huge gamble against seemingly impossible odds,
0:05:00 > 0:05:05but the people with everything to lose were Sicily's feudal aristocracy.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08Giuseppe Lampedusa's own family.
0:05:14 > 0:05:21So who was Giuseppe Lampedusa, and what traces of his noble family remain in Palermo today?
0:05:29 > 0:05:32These ruins are the remains of the Palazzo Lampedusa.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36The Palermo Palace of the Lampedusa family.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41It was destroyed on the morning of 5th April, 1943.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46"I loved our home with utter abandon and still love it now
0:05:46 > 0:05:50"when for the last years it has been no more than a memory.
0:05:50 > 0:05:57"A bomb manufactured in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania searched her out and destroyed her."
0:05:59 > 0:06:03But this was not some piece of isolated bad luck.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07Almost every trace of the patrimony of Giuseppe Tomasi,
0:06:07 > 0:06:13Prince of Lampedusa and Duke of Palma, was destroyed during his lifetime.
0:06:13 > 0:06:18The wealth of his family was divided and dissipated.
0:06:18 > 0:06:24The houses reduced to rubble by war, neglect and natural disasters.
0:06:24 > 0:06:29Lampedusa was born in this house in 1896.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32He never got over its destruction.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36At the very end of his life, to try to come to terms with
0:06:36 > 0:06:40his corrosive nostalgia for the world of his childhood,
0:06:40 > 0:06:43he wrote a novel that brought it all back to life.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47We are told that everyone has a great novel inside them.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49But Giuseppe Lampedusa really did.
0:06:51 > 0:06:55Lampedusa felt acute nostalgia for everything about his childhood.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57One of the main reasons that impelled him to write
0:06:57 > 0:07:03was to try and revisit that nostalgia and try to make some sense of it.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06There are certain similarities between Don Fabrizio in The Leopard
0:07:06 > 0:07:09and Lampedusa's great-grandfather, Prince Guilio.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14I don't think Lampedusa knew much about the character of his great-grandfather.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17In fact, Don Fabrizio is more Lampedusa -
0:07:17 > 0:07:19they have the same sceptical intelligence,
0:07:19 > 0:07:22the same fatalist attitude towards the future.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27We first meet the Leopard, Don Fabrizio, Prince of Salina,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30in the least irritating half hour of his day -
0:07:30 > 0:07:33in the run-up to dinner.
0:07:33 > 0:07:35The novel starts
0:07:35 > 0:07:39with this crisis which is the news of Garibaldi landing in Sicily
0:07:39 > 0:07:42which is going to essentially put an end to everything.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45Meals punctuate all these historical events,
0:07:45 > 0:07:47you have a grand historical event,
0:07:47 > 0:07:49then you have the family having a meal.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55"Dinner at the Villa Salina was served with a shabby grandeur
0:07:55 > 0:07:58"then customary in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
0:07:58 > 0:08:02"The silver was massive and the glass splendid
0:08:02 > 0:08:06"bearing the initials FD - Ferdinandus debit -
0:08:06 > 0:08:09"in memory of royal munificence."
0:08:13 > 0:08:16'The first meal in the novel begins with a soup.'
0:08:16 > 0:08:18- Buongiorno.- Buongiorno.
0:08:21 > 0:08:25'The detail with which the meals are described in the book is delightful.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29'Lampedusa was so good at getting these things right.'
0:08:29 > 0:08:34What really represents Sicily more than anything else is food.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36It is well reflected in the novel,
0:08:36 > 0:08:40the way the food and the descriptions and the colours of the food
0:08:40 > 0:08:45reflect Sicilian national identity.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51The food is not only perfect for the period, but very Sicilian.
0:08:51 > 0:08:55With these dried broad beans I am going to make a Sicilian minestra,
0:08:55 > 0:08:58the soup eaten at the first dinner.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04After his palazzo was destroyed by a bomb,
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Giuseppe took refuge here in the Villa San Marco,
0:09:08 > 0:09:11and they are kindly letting me borrow their kitchen.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16And I have Palmira the cook to give me a hand.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19The first job is to turn on the stove.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24You can't hurry things when it comes to Sicilian cooking.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27My dried broad beans have been soaking overnight.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32Soup in Italy may be a little bit brothy,
0:09:32 > 0:09:37can be more consistent or it can be a puree.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39It is always called zuppa.
0:09:39 > 0:09:45In this case, we have zuppa di fave secche, a puree.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47They call it macco.
0:09:47 > 0:09:53Adding water to cover them and cooking them for three hours.
0:09:53 > 0:09:57The next stage is the sofritto.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01Sofritto, it means just slightly fried.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04This is sofritto of cipola. Onions.
0:10:04 > 0:10:08Then we have something very special.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11The finocchietto selvatico.
0:10:11 > 0:10:16Which is, oh, lovely wild fennel from the mountain.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21Because it's not the season, the lady of the house preserved some,
0:10:21 > 0:10:26but the Sicilians, they love it.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29Shouldn't you have that, you can put in fennel seeds.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32Now we put this on the fire.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35There are some other regions, Puglia for example,
0:10:35 > 0:10:37where they do not put that,
0:10:37 > 0:10:41they put a different thing, but we are in Sicily and this is the macco.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46I have to turn the heat up on this one to gas mark 3.
0:10:49 > 0:10:50There we are.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54To accompany my macco, something that is slightly bitter.
0:10:54 > 0:10:59Chicory is the ideal. A little bit of oil.
0:10:59 > 0:11:00Lovely.
0:11:00 > 0:11:07Now I put the garlic to fry and a touch of chilli.
0:11:07 > 0:11:09Just a little bit. Wonderful.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12We have here all kinds of chicory.
0:11:17 > 0:11:19I add a little water.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Lid on, and it cooks by itself.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29Once the broad beans have become a puree, the dish is ready.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34And now we finalise the assembly of that,
0:11:34 > 0:11:37a bit of salt, olive oil.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40Now it has the proper taste.
0:11:40 > 0:11:41Perfection.
0:11:41 > 0:11:43Ah, the smell!
0:11:43 > 0:11:47So in here we've got the macco.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56And here we've got the chicory
0:11:56 > 0:12:00with the garlic and the chilli.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02The last touch,
0:12:02 > 0:12:05the onions with fennel.
0:12:05 > 0:12:11Very much-loved by the Sicilian.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Macco con cicoria,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17a delicious introduction to Sicily and to the Leopard.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22The next morning, we meet Don Fabrizio's nephew, Tancredi,
0:12:22 > 0:12:24the pivotal character in the novel.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29He is the only person who embraces the idea of a unified Italy
0:12:29 > 0:12:32and goes to a fight with Garibaldi against the king.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37All of his gallantry and soldiering...
0:12:37 > 0:12:40I think he's a chocolate soldier, really.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43He comes across as the likely lad - you can see him
0:12:43 > 0:12:48in his natty bowler hat and his racy check suit.
0:12:48 > 0:12:50He is almost a kind of spiv.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54A kind of Sicilian aristocratic spiv, which is quite a good combination.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Don Fabrizio himself is too sceptical
0:12:57 > 0:13:02to think Sicily will improve much with political unification.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06In fact, Tancredi too is cynical, because he makes the famous line,
0:13:06 > 0:13:11that to have things stay as they are, things have got to change.
0:13:11 > 0:13:16It will be a cosmetic change at the top, but the aristocracy will still be in power.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20Here in Sicily, the nobility certainly had a lot to lose.
0:13:20 > 0:13:26Even without Garibaldi's intervention, the indolence of the Sicilian landowners
0:13:26 > 0:13:28was bringing about their own downfall.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33Don Fabrizio's properties covered thousands of acres.
0:13:33 > 0:13:39But the Sicilian aristocracy had no interest in the management of their estates.
0:13:39 > 0:13:47"The world of centuries have been transmuted into ornament, luxury, pleasure.
0:13:47 > 0:13:51"This world, which had achieved its own object, was now composed
0:13:51 > 0:13:57"only of essential oils and like essential oils, soon evaporated."
0:13:57 > 0:14:01Seemingly indifferent, or unaware of the evaporation of his fortune,
0:14:01 > 0:14:08Don Fabrizio was still enjoying the simple pleasures of his aristocratic lifestyle.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12"At the end of the meal appeared a rum jelly.
0:14:12 > 0:14:14"This was the Prince's favourite pudding,
0:14:14 > 0:14:18"and the Princess had been careful to order it
0:14:18 > 0:14:23"early in the morning in gratitude for favours granted."
0:14:24 > 0:14:29Now, proper jelly starts with gelatine which we soften in some water.
0:14:29 > 0:14:34Meanwhile you dissolve 300 grams of sugar in a pan.
0:14:34 > 0:14:40Then you take the gelatine and then you stir it until it's dissolved.
0:14:40 > 0:14:47It's very interesting a prince would like a desert like that, a jelly.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49Now there is wonderful rum.
0:14:49 > 0:14:54So it should be 200 centilitres - let me see if I can do it...
0:14:57 > 0:14:59I think, is it 200?
0:14:59 > 0:15:01No, another little bit.
0:15:03 > 0:15:05Wonderful amber colour.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07And a little bit more.
0:15:11 > 0:15:16Now we can understand why the Prince liked it. It's quite a boozy jelly.
0:15:16 > 0:15:19And now it is ready for the mould.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22Wonderful copper mould. An old one.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27The smell is just fantastic.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33Wow!
0:15:33 > 0:15:35Now is ready for the fridge.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42Magnifico. Guardi!
0:15:42 > 0:15:44"It was rather fattening at the first sight.
0:15:44 > 0:15:50"Shaped like a tower garrisoned by red and green cherries and pistachio nuts."
0:15:50 > 0:15:53So, we go now to the decoration.
0:15:53 > 0:15:56I'm very glad it came out like this wonderful jelly.
0:15:56 > 0:16:00It's lovely to decorate it with fresh fruit,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03orange peel,
0:16:03 > 0:16:04pinoli,
0:16:04 > 0:16:06what a wonderful pudding.
0:16:06 > 0:16:07Elegantissimo.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11My host at the Villa San Marco was Daniella Camerata.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Let's try.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19I wondered what she would make of Don Fabrizio's favourite dessert.
0:16:19 > 0:16:20Very good.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25But the good thing is the orange skin.
0:16:27 > 0:16:30- So the rum also... - A delicate taste of rum.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35'Like Don Fabrizio, we drank a little Marsala with our jelly,
0:16:35 > 0:16:38'which it complimented beautifully.
0:16:38 > 0:16:45'Lampedusa wrote to a friend that every word in his book was weighted, every episode has a hidden sense.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48'While Don Fabrizio was enjoying his jelly,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51'Garibaldi was landing at the port of Marsala.'
0:16:56 > 0:17:00'Marsala is at the very westernmost point of Sicily.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04'On a coastal plain of vineyards and salt pans.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07'A landscape that hasn't changed at all
0:17:07 > 0:17:13'since its most famous visitor arrived on the 11th May, 1860.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16'This is the Porta Garibaldi,
0:17:16 > 0:17:19'previously known as the Porta Reale, the Royal Gate.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22'In a perfect example of Tancredi's warning,
0:17:22 > 0:17:27'the gate retains its Bourbon insignia but the name is changed.'
0:17:27 > 0:17:32Garibaldi landed at Marsala with about 1,000 men.
0:17:32 > 0:17:33The legendary mille.
0:17:33 > 0:17:39The Bourbon garrison had artillery and yet Garibaldi and his Red Shirts
0:17:39 > 0:17:42marched into town without opposition.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44Now, how did he manage that?
0:17:45 > 0:17:49The explanation is to be found in the surrounding vineyards.
0:17:49 > 0:17:53This was once the home of John Woodhouse -
0:17:53 > 0:17:59his neighbours had equally British names like Ingham and Whitaker.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05The truth is Marsala makes one of the greatest fortified wines in the world
0:18:05 > 0:18:08and wherever you find fortified wine
0:18:08 > 0:18:11you find the British who more or less invented it.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15By great good fortune that day,
0:18:15 > 0:18:19two British warships, Intrepid and the Argus,
0:18:19 > 0:18:23were in the harbour to protect local British interests.
0:18:23 > 0:18:29The Bourbons held their fire for fear of hitting the British vessels and Garibaldi was ashore.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34Britain is the dominant power in the Mediterranean and the Bourbon Army knows
0:18:34 > 0:18:38they can't risk alienating or offending the British.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42Garibaldi spent his first night in Sicily in this house.
0:18:42 > 0:18:45I don't know what he had for dinner that evening,
0:18:45 > 0:18:49but Marsala always makes me think of one thing.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51The zabaglione.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54For that I need eggs, fresh eggs.
0:18:54 > 0:18:58From which I take only the yoke.
0:18:58 > 0:18:59Wonderful yoke, one.
0:18:59 > 0:19:04So I just take about six eggs to make it quite rich and nice.
0:19:04 > 0:19:06Sugar.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10In this case...about five.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12And then you start to beat it.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17To make it really a cream.
0:19:17 > 0:19:24So it has to be foamy, so that the sugar is really dissolved.
0:19:24 > 0:19:31And then we have the good old virgin Marsala. It's a wonderful thing.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37And now on the little fire here. It's a bit high.
0:19:37 > 0:19:40Usually, it is made on a bain-marie.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43You have to be very careful it doesn't become scrambled eggs.
0:19:43 > 0:19:50Incidentally, in the Prohibition time in America,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54Marsala was the only alcoholic liquid allowed to be sold
0:19:54 > 0:19:57because it was supposed to be medicine.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01I love zabaglione.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06Wonderful.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09And now you just put it into glasses.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11This is pure poetry.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15Now, you could let it cool and eat it cold,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18but the best is to eat it with some biscuit, warm.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21It's a fantastic dessert.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24Very quickly to go and very quickly to make.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26- HE INHALES - Oh...
0:20:27 > 0:20:34Sicily has known so many invaders that Garibaldi was only the latest in a long line.
0:20:34 > 0:20:41The mayor of Marsala was forced to sign a decree declaring Bourbon rule was at an end.
0:20:41 > 0:20:45Garibaldi and his men moved off into the interior.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47Whatever ruler there is of Sicily,
0:20:47 > 0:20:51it doesn't make much difference. They're really all the same.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55As long as the invader doesn't interfere too much
0:20:55 > 0:20:57with the Sicilian way of life
0:20:57 > 0:21:01and as long as the invader doesn't interfere too much with the Sicilian way of food,
0:21:01 > 0:21:05everything will kind of carry on more or less the same as before.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14"All around quivered at the funereal countryside,
0:21:14 > 0:21:18"yellow with stubble, black with burnt patches.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22"The lament of cicadas filled the sky.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26"It was like a death rattle from a parched Sicily
0:21:26 > 0:21:29"at the end of August, vainly awaiting rain."
0:21:32 > 0:21:35Despite Garibaldi's recent conquests,
0:21:35 > 0:21:39Don Fabrizio and his family managed to travel across the island
0:21:39 > 0:21:43to spend the summer months at their country estate, Donnafugata.
0:21:46 > 0:21:49The model for the Palace of Donnafugata
0:21:49 > 0:21:53was this house, the Palazzo Cuto in Santa Margherita.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57'Lampedusa spent most of his childhood summers in this house,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01'which belonged to his mother's family.'
0:22:01 > 0:22:06"It spread over a vast expanse and contained about 100 rooms.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10"It gave the impression of an enclosed and self-sufficient entity,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14"a kind of a Vatican, as it were."
0:22:14 > 0:22:21But what we see today is a very different building to the summer home loved by the young Giuseppe.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31During the night of the 19th January, 1968,
0:22:31 > 0:22:36an earthquake destroyed some 60% of the town,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39including most of this grand old house.
0:22:42 > 0:22:4640 years later, the old town has been abandoned,
0:22:46 > 0:22:51and it is difficult for us to appreciate the beauty that Lampedusa found here.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00The Palazzo Cuto, however, has been rebuilt.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04This is now the town hall,
0:23:04 > 0:23:07but very little remains of the original structure.
0:23:07 > 0:23:13The garden gives us a better idea of Giuseppe's childhood playground.
0:23:16 > 0:23:21"In the furnace of summer, when the jet of the spring dwindled,
0:23:21 > 0:23:23"it was a paradise of parched scents
0:23:23 > 0:23:27"made to delight the nose rather than the eyes."
0:23:27 > 0:23:33In the novel, Donnafugata was an even larger house, dominating the town,
0:23:33 > 0:23:36a symbol of the feudal power of the Prince.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40It seemed unassailable, but was it?
0:23:40 > 0:23:42When he travels to Donnafugata,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45for him, it's this kind of devastating moment,
0:23:45 > 0:23:51and this is represented very effectively by the character of Don Calogero Sedara,
0:23:51 > 0:23:57who has acquired an enormous amount of money, and acquired political power by becoming the mayor.
0:23:57 > 0:24:04On the first evening in Donnafugata, Don Fabrizio invites the town notables to dinner,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08where they will be served the rare treat of Sicilian baronial cuisine -
0:24:08 > 0:24:11a macaroni pie!
0:24:11 > 0:24:16Palmira has spent the day making the stock for this incredible dish,
0:24:16 > 0:24:19with vegetables and a large joint of beef.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23But first, we need to prepare a pastry case.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25A little bit of flour...
0:24:25 > 0:24:30not to let it stick. Palmira would call it "pasta for the mince".
0:24:30 > 0:24:37Cranberry pastry. Probably the richest dish that I ever encounter.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41There we are.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43When I read this recipe,
0:24:43 > 0:24:47I thought to change, immediately, something,
0:24:47 > 0:24:52because it was saying that you have to take a chicken,
0:24:52 > 0:24:58taken from the ovary, unborn eggs, to which I had an idea.
0:24:58 > 0:25:00I will take just the yoke.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03And I saved the outcry of many people.
0:25:03 > 0:25:07The unborn egg is just like this when it's cooked.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11One of my favourite descriptions, in fact, in the novel
0:25:11 > 0:25:14is when Don Calogero Sedara arrives for the dinner.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16And the Prince,
0:25:16 > 0:25:21not in evening dress, because he doesn't want to embarrass his fellow guests
0:25:21 > 0:25:23who don't have evening dress,
0:25:23 > 0:25:27and Don Calogero Sedara turns up in evening dress.
0:25:27 > 0:25:29"All was placid and normal
0:25:29 > 0:25:32"when Francesco Paolo, the 16-year-old son,
0:25:32 > 0:25:34"burst into the room and announced,
0:25:34 > 0:25:40" 'Papa! Don Calogero is just coming up the stairs - in tails!' "
0:25:40 > 0:25:42For the Prince, Don Fabrizio,
0:25:42 > 0:25:47this is a shock worse than Garibaldi's landing at Marsala
0:25:47 > 0:25:53and he describes him as a revolution in white tie and tails.
0:25:53 > 0:25:59Despite the unease caused by Sedara's appearance, the meal itself is a very grand affair.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Macaroni pie certainly takes some preparation.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Olive oil, as usual, abundant.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09And then onion.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11Finely chopped onion.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14My goodness, the fire is good.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17And then comes the chicken.
0:26:18 > 0:26:23While the pasta is boiling, I prepare this sort of filling.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26Look at this, how many other things here to come.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30So, the next bit will be the chicken livers.
0:26:33 > 0:26:34And the little hearts.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38In the original recipe is written truffles.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42But a wonderful substitute is porcini.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45There you are.
0:26:45 > 0:26:51Now, I have to put two glasses of this wonderful beef extract
0:26:51 > 0:26:56to give another dimension of flavours.
0:26:56 > 0:26:59Little cubes of cooked ham.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04A little bit of wine.
0:27:07 > 0:27:11La pasta. Everybody in Italy, when the pasta comes, "La pasta!"
0:27:11 > 0:27:16So, this has been cooked very al dente.
0:27:16 > 0:27:22Put in there. Now we put this, the so-called unborn eggs.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Wonderful.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32Now, everything comes into the pasta, here...
0:27:33 > 0:27:36Fantastic. Oh!
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Now the last touch - Parmesan.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42After this, you have to have a holiday.
0:27:42 > 0:27:47This pasta is saying to me, "Eat me, eat me!" ..Palmira.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51This is the pastry case...
0:27:51 > 0:27:54which we will fill up
0:27:54 > 0:27:56with this.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05Now, the next step is to make a lid.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07That's fantastic.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10So we have here a wonderful woman.
0:28:10 > 0:28:15- PALMIRA SPEAKS IN ITALIAN - Made my life very easy. Grazie.
0:28:15 > 0:28:17Then a bit of brushing,
0:28:17 > 0:28:20which lets us achieve a wonderful golden crust.
0:28:23 > 0:28:24Fantastic.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29The last touch is cinnamon.
0:28:29 > 0:28:34And now this goes for half an hour in the oven.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39Now, at the dinner in Donnafugata, there's another shock for Don Fabrizio.
0:28:39 > 0:28:42There's this beautiful girl, Angelica, daughter of the mayor.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46"The door opened and in came Angelica.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49"Emanating from her whole person
0:28:49 > 0:28:52"was the invisible calm of a woman sure of her own beauty."
0:28:52 > 0:28:57There is an atmosphere heavy with sensuality at the dinner,
0:28:57 > 0:29:02created by the richness of the macaroni pie and the beauty of Angelica.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06Tancredi imagines kissing her with each mouthful,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09and quickly falls in love.
0:29:09 > 0:29:14A lot of Sicilians think food is actually
0:29:14 > 0:29:16the same as sex.
0:29:16 > 0:29:21It is a kind of animal pleasure,
0:29:21 > 0:29:27with little areas of poetry around it.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32THEY SPEAK IN ITALIAN
0:29:35 > 0:29:38First, the eye is eating it,
0:29:38 > 0:29:42then comes the mouth.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44The flavour is of a...
0:29:46 > 0:29:48..very sophisticated.
0:29:48 > 0:29:50IN ITALIAN
0:29:50 > 0:29:51She agrees!
0:29:51 > 0:29:55'There are these two kinds of Sicilian cuisine.
0:29:55 > 0:30:00'There's this cucina baronale, which is represented by the macaroni pie,
0:30:00 > 0:30:05'and cucina povera, which can extend also to street food.'
0:30:05 > 0:30:11It's not at all uncommon for even the richest members of Sicilian society
0:30:11 > 0:30:14to eat very simple food, and to go out in the middle of the night
0:30:14 > 0:30:19onto the streets of a city like Palermo and eat street food.
0:30:28 > 0:30:33You find hot food being cooked in the streets all over Palermo,
0:30:33 > 0:30:38but I followed my nose and the clouds of smoke to the Borgo Vecchio.
0:30:38 > 0:30:45I wanted to try a local speciality - stighiole - and I found it cooking on the grill at Da Michele.
0:30:45 > 0:30:50And there we are. This is Michele, a Toscano-smoking chef.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52So many of my flavours.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54THEY SPEAK IN ITALIAN
0:30:54 > 0:30:5920 years he's here. So, the meat is almost ready?
0:30:59 > 0:31:04Stighiole, they are very tender intestines of a deer
0:31:04 > 0:31:07that hasn't eaten grass yet, only milk.
0:31:07 > 0:31:09And look at that - they look wonderful.
0:31:11 > 0:31:16Lemon. In fact, this is the food for poor people,
0:31:16 > 0:31:18because they didn't throw away anything.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20But it's so tasty.
0:31:20 > 0:31:22Grazie.
0:31:24 > 0:31:25Let's see.
0:31:27 > 0:31:28I love this.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32They want something to taste, as well. Here.
0:31:32 > 0:31:34IN ITALIAN
0:31:38 > 0:31:44Michele was keen to show off the versatility of his grill with a sophisticated seafood feast.
0:31:44 > 0:31:48But first, he needed the right music.
0:31:48 > 0:31:51The traditional songs of his childhood.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55MUSIC: "That's The Way (I Like It) by KC & The Sunshine Band
0:31:55 > 0:31:58This is his own recipe. They call it gambero bianco.
0:31:59 > 0:32:00That quick.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04It is called mof mof - the minimum of fuss, maximum of flavour.
0:32:07 > 0:32:11# That's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh I like it
0:32:11 > 0:32:14# Uh-huh, uh-huh That's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh
0:32:14 > 0:32:17# I like it, uh-huh, uh-huh... #
0:32:17 > 0:32:19IN ITALIAN
0:32:19 > 0:32:23And above all, a nice shot of brandy.
0:32:23 > 0:32:25This is fantastic.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27Look at that.
0:32:27 > 0:32:30This is a fantastic idea.
0:32:30 > 0:32:35This is not just street food, this is street theatre.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38Because the Italians, they love this.
0:32:38 > 0:32:43The most wonderful thing is that Michele cooks everything for everybody.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46So if somebody comes with a slice of meat or a fish,
0:32:46 > 0:32:48in a minute or two, it is ready.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51You take it home.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53No mess, no washing up.
0:32:53 > 0:32:55They are like cherries -
0:32:55 > 0:32:58you eat one, you eat thousands.
0:33:00 > 0:33:03Michele is celebrating in this game here.
0:33:03 > 0:33:07I never could imagine that you could cook this on the grill.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09But like this, it's just fantastic.
0:33:09 > 0:33:15The funny fact is that, in 50 years of cooking, I can say that I learned another thing.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17You never stop learning.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20Wonderful.
0:34:13 > 0:34:19'As the long Sicilian summer continues, the story goes forward to October.
0:34:19 > 0:34:25'Still at Donnafugata, Don Fabrizio spends his days out with a gun.'
0:34:27 > 0:34:32The Prince loves hunting but he has a lot on his mind.
0:34:32 > 0:34:39During the summer months, there have been significant political developments.
0:34:39 > 0:34:45In October 1860, Sicily will have to vote on whether to join the Kingdom of Italy.
0:34:46 > 0:34:53'When the result of the vote in Donnafugata is announced by the mayor, Calogero Sedara,
0:34:53 > 0:34:58'it seems there was a unanimous vote in favour,
0:34:58 > 0:35:02'but Don Fabrizio is sure there were votes cast against
0:35:02 > 0:35:05'which have conveniently disappeared from Sedara's tally.'
0:35:05 > 0:35:08The government in northern Italy, they are basically saying,
0:35:08 > 0:35:14"Do you want the unification of Italy with Victor Emmanuel as king?
0:35:14 > 0:35:17"Yes or no?" There are no negotiations.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19Just yes or no.
0:35:19 > 0:35:25And then the only thing the government has to do is to make sure it's going to be a "yes" vote,
0:35:25 > 0:35:31so all of the energy is thrown into this being an overwhelmingly popular "yes" vote,
0:35:31 > 0:35:37and that's done by fairly straightforward techniques of kind of bullying and manipulation
0:35:37 > 0:35:40and corruption that we are all entirely familiar with.
0:35:42 > 0:35:47'But there have been family developments as well.
0:35:47 > 0:35:49'Tancredi has not wasted his summer.'
0:35:49 > 0:35:53Don Fabrizio must ask the despised Sedara
0:35:53 > 0:35:58for the hand of his daughter, Angelica, for his nephew, Tancredi.
0:35:58 > 0:36:05'Lampedusa tells us that Don Fabrizio's aim is particularly accurate and pitiless,
0:36:05 > 0:36:10'identifying those innocent creatures with Calogero Sedara.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15'I am afraid I wasn't such a good shot as Don Fabrizio,
0:36:15 > 0:36:19'but we found this plump rabbit at the butcher's shop.'
0:36:19 > 0:36:21A nice rabbit.
0:36:21 > 0:36:26Or could have been pheasant. It's to be cut into pieces.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28When I was a child...
0:36:28 > 0:36:35I was raising rabbits when I was about 15, 16.
0:36:35 > 0:36:38And I had the task to kill them, as well.
0:36:38 > 0:36:45But it was wartime, and no time wasted to consider them as a pet.
0:36:45 > 0:36:50So the preferred morsel of my father was the head,
0:36:50 > 0:36:54which was opened to expose the brain, then salt, and baked.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58So, now we cut the onion...
0:36:58 > 0:37:00So we add the onions.
0:37:00 > 0:37:02Now we add the potatoes.
0:37:02 > 0:37:07This is such a simple dish, it is unbelievable.
0:37:07 > 0:37:09Olive oil.
0:37:11 > 0:37:15Wonderful black olives.
0:37:15 > 0:37:20A good portion of salt. This salt comes from Trapani. It's local salt.
0:37:20 > 0:37:26And then we put the pieces of meat like this, like this,
0:37:26 > 0:37:29like that, for somebody that eats a lot!
0:37:29 > 0:37:34Then another bit of oil.
0:37:34 > 0:37:38So, the rosemary, it's quite a strong herb.
0:37:38 > 0:37:42From the house here, producing this fantastic wine.
0:37:46 > 0:37:49That's it.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51And now it comes into the oven.
0:37:58 > 0:38:00'Next door, in the big kitchen,
0:38:00 > 0:38:05'I discovered Daniella's son Enrico, an organic food specialist,
0:38:05 > 0:38:07'who was scavenging for some lunch.'
0:38:07 > 0:38:10- Do you like it?- Yes, sure. This is my lucky day.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13What do you eat, usually, for lunch?
0:38:13 > 0:38:14It depends.
0:38:14 > 0:38:19Usually, I have fast food, because I...have to work,
0:38:19 > 0:38:23- I never have the time to eat well. - To relax and eat something? - Definitely.
0:38:23 > 0:38:27In Palermo, the fast food is really good. It's natural food, but just fast.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29Do you like also the stighiole?
0:38:29 > 0:38:35- Yes, sure. It's my favourite fast food in Palermo. They're delicious. - So you like the rabbit?- Yes.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49Tancredi and Angelica are now engaged
0:38:49 > 0:38:55and escape together into the vast, empty ruins of the palace at Donnafugata.
0:38:55 > 0:39:00Lampedusa evokes the frustrated anticipation of their wedding.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03But was he drawing on his own experience?
0:39:03 > 0:39:07Lampedusa married Alessandra Wolff late in life.
0:39:07 > 0:39:12His wife, who was known as Licy, was a Latvian divorcee
0:39:12 > 0:39:16who was very fond of her own family castle on the Baltic.
0:39:16 > 0:39:22Their attempt to set up home with Lampedusa's mother in Palermo was a failure.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25His wife and his mother quarrelled terribly
0:39:25 > 0:39:29and so she decided, "I live in Latvia, you live in Sicily -
0:39:29 > 0:39:32"don't put us together, never again!"
0:39:32 > 0:39:35For a long time in the 1930s, he only saw Licy twice a year,
0:39:35 > 0:39:39at Christmas in Palermo, and in the summer in Latvia.
0:39:39 > 0:39:44As well as being Prince of Lampedusa, Giuseppe was also Duke of Palma.
0:39:44 > 0:39:51The title originates from Palma di Montechiaro, on the south coast of Sicily.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54Perhaps because it had no childhood ties,
0:39:54 > 0:39:59Lampedusa didn't visit the town until the 1950s,
0:39:59 > 0:40:02when he found the Tomasi name still commanded respect.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05The cathedral is full of family portraits,
0:40:05 > 0:40:08but, for me, as a fan of The Leopard,
0:40:08 > 0:40:10the best discovery is just down the hill -
0:40:10 > 0:40:13the Convent of the Rosary.
0:40:19 > 0:40:23As Duke of Palma, Giuseppe was the patron of this convent,
0:40:23 > 0:40:27and so was the only man allowed to enter the closed order -
0:40:27 > 0:40:31a detail he put straight into the novel.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36In the 17th century, there was such a strong streak of religious fervour
0:40:36 > 0:40:42in the Lampedusa family, it's surprising they managed to keep producing heirs.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46This is the first duke, who built the town.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49He is known as the Duca Santos, the Saint Duke.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53And this is his sister, Isabella Tomasi,
0:40:53 > 0:40:55the venerable Maria Crocifissa,
0:40:55 > 0:40:58and some items of interest from her life.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01This stone, thrown at her by the devil,
0:41:01 > 0:41:05was miraculously stopped in mid-air.
0:41:05 > 0:41:10'I was also able to see some of her correspondence.'
0:41:10 > 0:41:15This is a photocopy of a letter written by the Venerabile Maria.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17Si.
0:41:17 > 0:41:22And while she was writing, she heard voices, to write bad words,
0:41:22 > 0:41:26until she discovered it was the devil dictating the letter. Then she stopped.
0:41:26 > 0:41:31I collected my final treat on the way out -
0:41:31 > 0:41:36the little almond cakes made by the nuns which Lampedusa had enjoyed.
0:41:36 > 0:41:43'In his diary, he described his visit with one word - "commosso" - moved.'
0:41:43 > 0:41:49Mmm. The inside is the mince of a special lemon
0:41:49 > 0:41:52called cedro. Just wonderful.
0:41:53 > 0:41:58"On these premises, the tomb was venerated with due respect by all,
0:41:58 > 0:42:02"the nuns' watery coffee drunk with tolerance
0:42:02 > 0:42:06"and the pink-and-greenish almond cakes crunched with satisfaction."
0:42:09 > 0:42:14A few miles away on the coast, overlooking the sea,
0:42:14 > 0:42:19we find yet another Lampedusa family ruin - the Castle of Montechiaro.
0:42:24 > 0:42:30This was the only part of his great-grandfather's property that came directly to Giuseppe.
0:42:32 > 0:42:39In the 1950s, when Lampedusa visited for the first time, it was considered practically worthless.
0:42:39 > 0:42:46After his first trip here, Lampedusa soon returned again, with his wife, Licy.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49She suggested they might restore part of the ruin
0:42:49 > 0:42:53to make it habitable, but nothing came of the idea.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57Lampedusa later confessed in his diary
0:42:57 > 0:43:01that the trip had left him feeling orphaned and melancholic.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07Before he leaves Donnafugata, Don Fabrizio has an unexpected visitor -
0:43:07 > 0:43:14a noble man from the north arrives to offer him a seat in the new Senate of Italy.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18In refusing the offer of his puzzled guest,
0:43:18 > 0:43:20Don Fabrizio tries to explain
0:43:20 > 0:43:23his troubled relationship with his homeland.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26"The Sicilians never want to improve,
0:43:26 > 0:43:30"for the simple reason that they think themselves perfect.
0:43:30 > 0:43:34"Their vanity is stronger than their misery."
0:43:34 > 0:43:37He is quite scathing about certain defects of the Silician character -
0:43:37 > 0:43:39the violence,
0:43:39 > 0:43:40the superficiality,
0:43:40 > 0:43:42the sexual boasting.
0:43:42 > 0:43:47Tomasi di Lampedusa is saying to us, "Yes, Sicilians have all these terrible qualities
0:43:47 > 0:43:49"and they're proud of them."
0:43:49 > 0:43:52He talks in a negative way about these things,
0:43:52 > 0:43:56but in a way that the Brits talk about themselves in a negative way,
0:43:56 > 0:44:00that makes us sound as if we're virtuous - we're good losers, for example.
0:44:00 > 0:44:02We're almost proud when we lose at things!
0:44:04 > 0:44:08"In Sicily, it doesn't matter about doing things well or badly.
0:44:08 > 0:44:14"The sin we can never forgive is simply that of doing at all."
0:44:16 > 0:44:20WALTZ MUSIC PLAYS
0:44:34 > 0:44:37The story moves on two years to a ball,
0:44:37 > 0:44:41at which Tancredi introduces Angelica to Palermo society,
0:44:41 > 0:44:46a society congratulating itself on still existing.
0:44:46 > 0:44:47It seems, initially,
0:44:47 > 0:44:51as though Tancredi is right and nothing has changed
0:44:51 > 0:44:55and everything is going to go on as before,
0:44:55 > 0:44:58and the ball is intended to be a celebration
0:44:58 > 0:45:00of the fact that nothing has changed.
0:45:00 > 0:45:04But it becomes very clear in the course of the ball
0:45:04 > 0:45:06that everything has changed,
0:45:06 > 0:45:13and the power and the status of the Sicilian nobility is dying,
0:45:13 > 0:45:16basically, is decaying, is ebbing away.
0:45:16 > 0:45:21Although the ball is as spectacular as ever,
0:45:21 > 0:45:23Don Fabrizio is nauseated
0:45:23 > 0:45:28by what now seems facile and transient to him.
0:45:28 > 0:45:33Don Fabrizio's mood is reflected in his sense of disgust at the food on offer.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36The monotonous opulence of the buffet.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39Even the food, with these little birds and so on,
0:45:39 > 0:45:42which one would have thought are great luxuries,
0:45:42 > 0:45:46are written about as though they are something really rather horrible
0:45:46 > 0:45:48and starting to go rotten.
0:45:48 > 0:45:52The cucina baronale that had delighted him
0:45:52 > 0:45:54in the form of a macaroni pie at Donnafugata
0:45:54 > 0:45:57now leaves a bad taste in his mouth
0:45:57 > 0:46:01and he searches for something sweet.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03And this display here, wonderful display,
0:46:03 > 0:46:07was exactly what the Prince would have found at the ball.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10You can read the history of Sicily here.
0:46:10 > 0:46:16Arab cassata, French rum babas, Spanish chocolates.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18In this punishing climate,
0:46:18 > 0:46:22it is sugar that is the favourite preservative, and in this respect,
0:46:22 > 0:46:28both Don Fabrizio and Lampedusa were typical Sicilians -
0:46:28 > 0:46:31they have a sweet tooth.
0:46:31 > 0:46:36Now, this may seem a bit strange, but this is a common breakfast in Palermo.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38Ice cream in a brioche roll.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42You have to remember, these poor people have to suffer a summer
0:46:42 > 0:46:48which Lampedusa said was as long and glum as a Russian winter.
0:46:51 > 0:46:56During the Second World War, Lampedusa lost his palace to an American bomb.
0:46:56 > 0:47:01His wife, Licy, lost her castle in Latvia to the invading Russians.
0:47:01 > 0:47:09When Giuseppe's mother died in 1946, Licy finally came to Palermo,
0:47:09 > 0:47:13and they moved into a dilapidated palazzo in the Kalsa,
0:47:13 > 0:47:16the Arab heart of the old city,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19that had once belonged to Giuseppe's great-grandfather.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24The house had the all-important Lampedusa pedigree.
0:47:24 > 0:47:28Starting with an apartment on the second floor,
0:47:28 > 0:47:32the Lampedusas gradually acquired more and more of the building.
0:47:32 > 0:47:37He could never replace the Palazzo de Lampedusa, but this became home.
0:47:37 > 0:47:41Lampedusa's wife, there was nothing much Italian about her.
0:47:41 > 0:47:46She was a rather gruff Baltic lady, and a Freudian psychoanalyst.
0:47:46 > 0:47:51And she didn't much like Palermo, and the people of Palermo didn't much like her.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55He had a very particular schedule of his life,
0:47:55 > 0:48:00because she was all the night long looking at the treatments
0:48:00 > 0:48:03she was developing with her patients.
0:48:03 > 0:48:07She went to sleep about...at dawn,
0:48:07 > 0:48:086 o'clock in the morning,
0:48:08 > 0:48:13he, um, half-past-eight, was on the street
0:48:13 > 0:48:18and went up walking to three big coffee houses that were in the centre of Palermo.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21Except Mazzara, the other two have disappeared.
0:48:21 > 0:48:29In the 1950s, the cafe Mazzara became Lampedusa's regular morning haunt.
0:48:29 > 0:48:32He carried with him a bag, crammed full of books,
0:48:32 > 0:48:35including a volume of Shakespeare,
0:48:35 > 0:48:39just to calm him down in case he saw something disagreeable.
0:48:39 > 0:48:43While having a leisurely breakfast, he would read,
0:48:43 > 0:48:45sometimes for several hours.
0:48:46 > 0:48:51These solitary breakfasts were often interrupted by his young cousin,
0:48:51 > 0:48:54Gioacchino Lanza, and his friends.
0:48:54 > 0:48:57He was in a bad crisis, personally, economically,
0:48:57 > 0:48:59and through these young people he met,
0:48:59 > 0:49:02he recovered an attachment to life,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05and so he started giving lessons. "Let's start with English."
0:49:05 > 0:49:10At the beginning, they are really grammar lessons with monosyllables,
0:49:10 > 0:49:14as you do in British - pit, pat, pot, put, and so on!
0:49:14 > 0:49:18But then they started reading books together,
0:49:18 > 0:49:21and he made a run-through,
0:49:21 > 0:49:26an amusing, so to say, course of English literature.
0:49:26 > 0:49:32If he had an idea that was more amusing, he would go with the idea. Surely!
0:49:34 > 0:49:38After breakfast, stocking up with pastries for the journey,
0:49:38 > 0:49:41he crossed the street to Flaccovio's bookshop,
0:49:41 > 0:49:46where he spent the rest of the morning browsing.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48Still selling well.
0:49:48 > 0:49:51'Lampedusa's only luxuries were the books he bought.
0:49:51 > 0:49:55'He was nervous about admitting the cost to his wife, Licy,
0:49:55 > 0:49:58'and often claimed that they were in a sale
0:49:58 > 0:50:02'or he had been given a discount because they were damaged.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05'He would occasionally break his journey home here,
0:50:05 > 0:50:08'at the Pizzeria Bellini, for lunch with friends,
0:50:08 > 0:50:12'knowing that Licy would be asleep into the afternoon.
0:50:12 > 0:50:16'But, more commonly, his bag of buns would have to last him until dinner-time.'
0:50:16 > 0:50:21Sadly, for someone as greedy as Lampedusa, she was a terribly bad cook,
0:50:21 > 0:50:24and desperate to reproduce Baltic food,
0:50:24 > 0:50:28even though it was impossible in Palermo to find it.
0:50:28 > 0:50:33She made a disgusting olive-oil paste which she insisted tasted exactly like caviar.
0:50:33 > 0:50:39Lampedusa's other great consolation were his visits to his mother's family.
0:50:39 > 0:50:43His cousin, Lucio Piccolo, had published a volume of poetry
0:50:43 > 0:50:47which, in 1954, won a minor literary prize.
0:50:47 > 0:50:54This odd pair travelled to the festival at San Pellegrino to collect the award.
0:50:54 > 0:50:58This journey seems to have been the spark he needed.
0:50:58 > 0:51:05He later wrote to a friend, "Being mathematically certain that I am no more a fool than Lucio,
0:51:05 > 0:51:08"I sat down at my desk and wrote a novel."
0:51:08 > 0:51:14Lampedusa wrote in cramped blue Biro, in lined notebooks.
0:51:14 > 0:51:20One of his pupils offered to type the manuscript at his father's legal office.
0:51:20 > 0:51:25After buying them lunch, Lampedusa dictated the novel during the afternoon siesta.
0:51:25 > 0:51:33In the hot, empty office, sweating and chain-smoking, it became obvious that he was not well.
0:51:33 > 0:51:37Lampedusa was never healthy. He didn't take exercise, he was fat,
0:51:37 > 0:51:40he ate too much and he smoked incessantly.
0:51:40 > 0:51:45He had this lung problem - he thought it was emphysema - he couldn't breathe well.
0:51:45 > 0:51:50Then he was told, "Actually, it's lung cancer." And he, er, he was pretty stoic about it,
0:51:50 > 0:51:52obviously very upset,
0:51:52 > 0:51:55but he carried on, and he went on writing when he felt well enough.
0:52:10 > 0:52:15There is very little comfort to be gained from the next chapter of the book.
0:52:15 > 0:52:19It's 21 years later, and Don Fabrizio is dying.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22Having seen a doctor in Naples,
0:52:22 > 0:52:26he is too ill to complete the journey to the Villa Salina.
0:52:26 > 0:52:31In the heat of the afternoon, meeting his family at Palermo station,
0:52:31 > 0:52:33he collapses and he is taken to a hotel.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37"Every word was weighted," said Lampedusa.
0:52:37 > 0:52:42He set Don Fabrizio's death in a real hotel, the Trinacria.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45Before the war, the sea came right up to this terrace -
0:52:45 > 0:52:50Trinacria, meaning three-cornered, was the Greek name for Sicily.
0:52:50 > 0:52:53So the Prince is dying,
0:52:53 > 0:53:00surrounded by his family in the Hotel Sicily, listening to the sound of the waves lapping on the shore.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04"He had said that the Salina would always be the Salina.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08"He had been wrong. The last Salina was himself.
0:53:08 > 0:53:15"That fellow Garibaldi, that bearded Vulcan, had won after all."
0:53:15 > 0:53:17Through this bustle of people
0:53:17 > 0:53:20comes this beautiful young woman,
0:53:20 > 0:53:23in a wide bustle and a straw hat
0:53:23 > 0:53:27and a travelling gown,
0:53:27 > 0:53:29and looks foxy,
0:53:29 > 0:53:34and he realises that this is HER.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37This is IT.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41"It was she, the creature, forever yearned for,
0:53:41 > 0:53:43"coming to fetch him.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45"When she was face to face with him,
0:53:45 > 0:53:50"she raised her veil, and there, chaste, but ready for possession,
0:53:50 > 0:53:55"she looked lovelier than she ever had when glimpsed in stellar space.
0:53:55 > 0:54:00"The crashing of the sea subsided altogether."
0:54:05 > 0:54:12On August 23rd, 1955, Lampedusa wrote in his diary that the book was finished.
0:54:12 > 0:54:15Now he needed to find a publisher.
0:54:15 > 0:54:19The question of publish or not publish, we knew nobody.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24We knew practically nobody abroad,
0:54:24 > 0:54:25out of Palermo!
0:54:25 > 0:54:29It was rejected twice, the second time when Lampedusa
0:54:29 > 0:54:34was on his deathbed, and he was naturally depressed about it.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38But he was quite philosophical about it - he said, erm,
0:54:38 > 0:54:42"As a review, it's not bad but they're not gonna publish it."
0:54:42 > 0:54:46Lampedusa was by now in a clinic in Rome for treatment.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49The second rejection letter described the novel
0:54:49 > 0:54:55as rather old-fashioned, unbalanced and too essay-ish.
0:54:55 > 0:55:00Lampedusa was denied the comfort he devised for his main character -
0:55:00 > 0:55:03he never returned to Palermo.
0:55:07 > 0:55:12The last Prince of Lampedusa died in a Rome clinic a few days later.
0:55:12 > 0:55:14He was 60 years old.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24Eight months later, by a circuitous route,
0:55:24 > 0:55:27the manuscript came to the attention of Giorgio Bassani,
0:55:27 > 0:55:31working for the publisher Feltrinelli.
0:55:31 > 0:55:33He wrote to Licy in Palermo.
0:55:33 > 0:55:40From the first page, I realised I had found myself before the work of a real writer.
0:55:40 > 0:55:47Il Gattopardo was finally published in November 1958 and became a runaway success.
0:55:47 > 0:55:51He was proud of it, because he was absolutely convinced
0:55:51 > 0:55:53that he had written an artwork.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56He couldn't think that it would be a terrific success,
0:55:56 > 0:55:58that's another affair,
0:55:58 > 0:56:00but it was a good book.
0:56:00 > 0:56:05Consider, I've read so many books, this is a good book.
0:56:05 > 0:56:11And I've been extraordinarily moved by the book,
0:56:11 > 0:56:13and by him.
0:56:13 > 0:56:20Erm... And to think of this elderly man
0:56:20 > 0:56:23who has never had any books published, or anything,
0:56:23 > 0:56:25in his long overcoat,
0:56:25 > 0:56:29sitting in this fusty cafe in the middle of Palermo,
0:56:29 > 0:56:34um, writing with a ballpoint in an exercise book,
0:56:34 > 0:56:39er, I find just extraordinary.
0:56:39 > 0:56:44Because don't you feel, that by the end of the book, you think,
0:56:44 > 0:56:48"What is life about?"
0:56:48 > 0:56:54A few hundred yards from his old home, there is now a cafe and bookshop devoted to The Leopard,
0:56:54 > 0:56:58with a little exhibition of photographs from his life.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02It's easy to feel sorry for Giuseppe Lampedusa.
0:57:02 > 0:57:08He died a few days after receiving a clumsy letter rejecting his book.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11And he never knew the success he would achieve.
0:57:11 > 0:57:16"In Sicily, it doesn't matter about doing things well or badly.
0:57:16 > 0:57:21"The sin we can never forgive is simply that of doing at all."
0:57:21 > 0:57:26He had done something, and he had done it well.
0:57:42 > 0:57:46Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:57:46 > 0:57:49E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk