Set-jetting in Sicily: Where to find the lavish filming locations of Netflix’s The Leopard

The Leopard, a brand new sequence on streaming platform Netflix, is entrancing viewers with its sultry scenes of political and private upheaval in 1860s Sicily.

However alongside the swoon-worthy storylines, it’s the luxurious settings which might be dazzling followers. If there was ever an onscreen drama readymade for set-jetting, it’s this one.

From an iconic Baroque sq. in Palermo to a lavish palazzo in Siracuse, right here’s the place to search out the real-life backdrops of The Leopard.

The Leopard filming areas: Palermo’s sculpture-rich squares

The sequence – tailored from the Italian novel Il Gattopardo by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa – takes place because the revolutionary Garibaldi seizes Sicily throughout his efforts to unify Italy.

All through the episodes, we see the town of Palermo making ready for and residing by means of the Redshirt military’s invasion.

The Sicilian capital is a confection of curvaceous Baroque structure – the best theatrical and sensual surroundings for the present.

Places embrace the Quattro Canti, a crossroads with 4 curved facades adorned with statues and coats of arms, and Piazza Pretoria with its grandiose, sculpture-crammed fountain.

A noble pad on the sting of Palermo

The titular Leopard is Don Fabrizio, the Prince of Salina, whose time-honoured privileges and affect are existentially threatened by the brand new regime.

His city pad, Salina Palace, is the real-life Villa Valguarnera in Bagheria, simply exterior Palermo.

The noble summer time retreat and huge property have been designed within the 18th century, with a sweeping oval entrance courtroom and Pompeian-style frescoed interiors.

For full-immersion set-jetting, you’ll be able to hire out the household dwelling, presently presided over by Princess Vittoria Alliata who translated the Lord of the Rings into Italian at 16 years outdated.

You and 5 different friends can unfold out in 700 sq. metres of bedrooms, eating rooms, drawing rooms and a ballroom, plus 1,300 sq. metres of sunny-tiled terrace.

If that’s a little bit out of funds, go to Palazzo Comitini within the centre of Palermo as an alternative. Now open to the general public, it was constructed within the 18th century for Michele Gravina Cruillas, prince of Comitini.

The principal public room, the Sala Martorana, is topped by the sumptuous ‘Triumph of Love’ fresco of Gioacchino Martorana. Beneath the lavish ceiling, the Salina household dines within the Netflix sequence.

Sicily’s desert and the centre of Siracuse

The household’s nation escape is the fictional Donnafugata deep in rural Sicily. For the pure setting, the sequence makes use of the Calanchi del Cannizzola.

This space of untamed, sun-scorched Sicily close to Catania is called the island’s desert. From the yellow grassy plains, dry ridged hillocks stand up forming a surreal, putting panorama.

The scenes within the city centre of Donnafugata have been filmed in Ortigia, an island simply off mainland Siracuse and thought of the town’s historic quarter.

Accessible by two bridges, it has an space of only one sq. kilometre however is wealthy with seventeenth, 18th and Nineteenth-century buildings.

The Palazzo Beneventano Del Bosco in Ortigia’s predominant sq. is a creamy, Baroque delight which stands in for the outside of the Salina palace of Donnafugata.