The Traveling Book Club  ·  21st Adventure  ·  2026
Palermo
Sicily, Italy

A literary journey through the Sicily of The Leopard — the palaces, the countryside, and the world of Prince Fabrizio di Salina

February 28 – March 4, 2026
I
Feb 28
Arrival
II
Mar 1
Palermo
III
Mar 2
Duchess
IV
Mar 3
Countryside
V
Mar 4
Depart
Food & Wine The Leopard Places
Scroll
The 21st Traveling Book Club Adventure

Nine women. Five days. One of the greatest novels ever written about Sicily — and the city, the palaces, and the countryside that made it possible.

The group stays at Palazzo Lanza Tomasi on Via Butera, Palermo — the very house where Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa sat at his desk and wrote his only novel in the last years of his life. The special guest for two days of the trip is the Duchess herself, Nicoletta Polo Lanza Tomasi, Lampedusa's daughter-in-law and keeper of his legacy.

"If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change." — Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard (1958)

Organized by Joyce Huntington and Team Leopard — the 20th trip in the field (21st counting the pandemic year of The Dutch House).

Traveling Together
The Book Club
A Journal, Day by Day

Five Days in Sicily

I
Saturday, February 28

Arrival at the Palazzo

Palazzo Lanza Tomasi · Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi · Doba
  • 3:00 PMCheck in at Palazzo Lanza Tomasi, 28 Via Butera — the house where Lampedusa wrote The Leopard
  • 3:45 PMPrivate tour of Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi — the Hall of Mirrors where Visconti filmed the legendary ballroom scene (1963)
  • 5:00 PMCocktails in Lampedusa's library with the Duchess, Nicoletta Polo Lanza Tomasi — discussion of The Leopard
  • 8:00 PMDinner at Doba Restaurant & Terrace — rooftop with views over Teatro Massimo
"At the ball in Palazzo Ponteleone the candles in the great chandeliers shed light on them all impartially." — The Leopard, Chapter VI
The Traveling Book Club at Palazzo Lanza Tomasi
All nine at the palazzo doors — Feb 28
Chiesa della Martorana at night
Chiesa della Martorana, first evening
Opening bites at Doba
Opening bites at Doba
↑ Top The Group Day II →
II
Sunday, March 1

The Palermo of Lampedusa

Walking Tour · Villa Piccolo · Osteria Ballarò
  • 8:30 AMBreakfast in Apartment 9
  • 9:30 AMWalking tour with Emilia & Michele — Piazza Tredici Vittime, Palazzo Lampedusa (bombed 1943), San Domenico (Lampedusa's tomb), the carriage route to the ball, La Cala Harbor, Trinacria Hotel
  • 12:30 PMLunch at Le Cattive — terrace of Palazzo Butera, steps from home
  • 1:30 PMBus to Villa Piccolo, Capo d'Orlando — home of Lampedusa's cousin the poet Lucio Piccolo, where he first read the novel aloud
  • 8:00 PMDinner at Osteria Ballarò — traditional Sicilian pasta in 17th-century horse stables
"Decaying boats bobbed up and down, desolate as mangy dogs." — The Leopard, on La Cala Harbor
← Day I ↑ Top Day III →
III
Monday, March 2

A Day with the Duchess

Farmers' Market · Palazzo Kitchen · Streetzy Tour
  • 8:30 AMA morning at the market with Nicoletta, then back to the palazzo kitchen — coffee, conversation, and a Sicilian meal built from scratch. The table where the group sits down to eat is the same one Lampedusa used.
  • 2:30 PMFree afternoon — optional: the Capuchin Crypt (~8,000 mummified bodies; Don Fabrizio reflects on his ancestors' tomb here)
  • 6:30 PMStreetzy Street Food Tour — Palermo's markets and street stalls, organized by Lisa
"He must see to repairing the tomb of his ancestors at the Capuchins." — The Leopard
← Day II ↑ Top Day IV →
IV
Tuesday, March 3

Santa Margherita & Palma di Montechiaro

Donnafugata in the Countryside · Awards Night

"Donnafugata as a village is Palma; as a palace, Santa Margherita." — Lampedusa

  • 8:00 AMAll-day bus journey into the Sicilian countryside with Emilia & Michele
  • MorningSanta Margherita di Belice — Palazzo Filangeri di Cutò, now a museum. Lampedusa spent childhood summers here; the model for Donnafugata palace.
  • AfternoonPalma di Montechiaro — the village that became Donnafugata. The Monastery of the Most Holy Rosary: the enclosure is intact, the gates still shut to most, and the almond biscotti the nuns have made for centuries are still passed through the wheel to visitors.
  • 8:00 PMDinner in Apartment 9 with Gianni & Claudia Bertini — followed by the 2026 Traveling Book Club Awards Ceremony 🏆
"In Sicily everything has been done, undone, remade, and forgotten, with the same passion." — The Leopard
← Day III ↑ Top Day V →
V
Wednesday, March 4

Arrivederci, Palermo

Check Out · Last Hours · Departures
  • MorningCheck out from Palazzo Lanza Tomasi
  • If timePalazzo Butera — modern art and the Duchess's rooftop terrace
  • If timePalermo Cathedral and Royal Palace / Palazzo dei Normanni (both UNESCO)
  • If timeQuattro Canti — the baroque "Four Corners" at the heart of the old city
"He felt life flowing from him in great pressing waves." — The Leopard, final chapter
← Day IV ↑ Top
Every Meal, Every Market

Food & Wine

Saturday, Feb 28 — Day 1
Dinner
Doba Restaurant & Terrace
Rooftop dining above the city. Views over Teatro Massimo. Reserved for 9 by Joyce. Arancina, Sicilian appetizers, and more.
Via Bara all'Olivella 78
Sunday, Mar 1 — Day 2
Breakfast
Apartment 9
In the palazzo.
Lunch
Le Cattive
Terrace of Palazzo Butera — steps from home, overlooking the waterfront.
Via Butera 8/18
Dinner
Osteria Ballarò
A neighborhood institution set inside a 17th-century palazzo stable. Hand-made pasta, almost entirely Sicilian ingredients, a short walk from home.
Monday, Mar 2 — Day 3
Morning + Lunch
Cooking with the Duchess
A morning at Palermo's market with the Duchess, then back to the palazzo to cook together. The meal is eaten at the table Lampedusa himself used — a detail that earns its weight.
Evening
Streetzy Street Food Tour
Walking Palermo's markets and street stalls. Organized by Lisa. The real food of the city — arancine, panelle, pani ca meusa, sfincione.
Tuesday, Mar 3 — Day 4
Breakfast
Apartment 9
Early start — bus leaves at 8am.
Lunch
In Palma di Montechiaro
Lunch in the village during the countryside day trip.
Dinner
Apartment 9 — with Gianni & Claudia
Chicken from Cala Pollo + wine. Special guests: Gianni & Claudia Bertini, Sicilian friends of Julie. Then: the Awards Ceremony.
Also Nearby — Palazzo Discounts & Recommendations
10% Discount
L'Ottava Nota
Via Butera 55
10% Discount · Organic Sicilian
MadoniEat
Via Butera 20
Recommended
Frida
Excellent pizzeria.
Piazza Sant'Onofrio 87/88
Recommended · Capo Market
Isgrò
Fish restaurant at Capo Market.
Via Porta Carini 66
The Book

The Leopard

The Novel

Published posthumously in 1958, The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) is Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's only novel — and one of the greatest works of 20th-century Italian literature. Set in 1860s Sicily during the Risorgimento, it follows Don Fabrizio, Prince of Salina, a Sicilian aristocrat watching his world dissolve as Garibaldi's revolution reshapes the island.

The Author

Lampedusa was born into Sicilian aristocracy — Prince of Lampedusa, Duke of Palma di Montechiaro. His childhood home was bombed in 1943. He wrote The Leopard at Via Butera — the palazzo where the group is staying — in the last years of his life. He died in 1957, before ever seeing it published. His remains were moved to San Domenico, Palermo's "Pantheon," in 2024.

Key Themes

  • Change & decline
  • Mortality & beauty
  • Aristocracy's twilight
  • Sicily's fatalism
  • Memory & loss
  • Love & compromise

Further Reading

Steven Price's Lampedusa follows the novelist himself in his final years — the writing of The Leopard, the rejections, the illness, the race against time. A quiet, beautifully constructed companion to the trip. On Audible and Kindle.

Real Life & The Novel

The Places

In Palermo
Palazzo Lanza Tomasi
28 Via Butera · Lampedusa's final home; where he wrote the novel. Home base for the trip.
The Prince's Palermo — the desk, the library, the world of Salina.
Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi
Piazza Croce dei Vespri 6 · 18th-century aristocratic palace. Visited Day 1.
Palazzo Ponteleone — the legendary ballroom scene filmed here by Visconti in 1963.
Chiesa di San Domenico
Piazza S. Domenico · Palermo's Pantheon of Illustrious Sicilians. Lampedusa's tomb (since 2024).
The route of Don Fabrizio's carriage to the ball passes here.
Palazzo Lampedusa
Via di Lampedusa 23 · Lampedusa's childhood home, bombed April 5, 1943. Now apartments.
The Prince's observatory. The lost world of Salina.
La Cala Harbor
Ancient Phoenician port, now a small marina. Walking tour Day 2.
"Decaying boats bobbed up and down, desolate as mangy dogs."
Palazzo Trinacria
Via Butera 24 · Steps from the group's palazzo.
Where Lampedusa set Don Fabrizio's death scene — "He felt life flowing from him in great pressing waves."
Capuchin Crypt
Piazza Cappuccini 1 · ~8,000 mummified bodies in the catacombs. Optional Day 3.
"He must see to repairing the tomb of his ancestors at the Capuchins."
Outside Palermo
Villa Piccolo
Capo d'Orlando · Home of Lampedusa's cousin, the poet Lucio Piccolo. Day 2 day trip.
Where Lampedusa first read The Leopard aloud and found the courage to finish it.
Palazzo Filangeri di Cutò
Santa Margherita di Belice · Lampedusa's mother's ancestral home. Now a museum. Day 4.
The model for Donnafugata palace — where Tancredi courts Angelica, the Prince plays cards.
Palma di Montechiaro
Village built by Lampedusa's ancestors in the 1600s on Jerusalem's street layout. Day 4.
The model for the village of Donnafugata. The biscotti ricci are real.
Monastery of the Most Holy Rosary
Palma di Montechiaro · An enclosed order, still living behind the same walls. Day 4.
The Convent of the Holy Spirit in the novel. Visitors receive almond biscotti through a wooden turn-wheel at the gate.