Where It All Goes Down
Sicily, 1860
It's little wonder why Giuseppe di Lampedusa decided to set this book during the Italian "Risorgimento" or "The Resurgence," since this was the process that stripped Lampedusa's own family of its royal status. Generally speaking, the process started in 1815 and kept going until 1871, but this book focuses on the moment that The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies got absorbed into the larger Kingdom of Italy in 1860.
It took some fighting to make this happen, but at the end of the day, the people of southern Italy (including Sicily) took a general vote and decided to join Italy (although it's not clear how rigged that vote actually was). As we find out in The Leopard, this decision basically meant the end of the Sicilian aristocracy: the social order that the book's main character, Fabrizio, is a part of.
On a physical level, Giuseppe di Lampedusa doesn't hold back when it comes to describing the setting of this book—his native island of Sicily. In the very first chapter, we watch Prince Fabrizio walk into his garden, where the narrator tells us,
[The] garden, hemmed and almost squashed between these barriers, was exhaling scents that were cloying, fleshy, and slightly putrid, like the aromatic liquids distilled from the relics of certain saints. (1.15)
But this book's setting isn't always about beauty. Lampedusa also mentions just how insanely dusty the island of Sicily can be. People need to change their clothes twice a day just to wear something clean. No matter what you're hearing about the setting, you can count on Lampedusa to be super descriptive about it. On top of all that, it's important to remember that Prince Fabrizio's family has lived among the houses and towns in this book for centuries, which gives us a very deep sense of his connection to these places:
All around quivered the funereal countryside, yellow with stubble, black with burned patches; the lament of cicadas filled the sky. (2.8)
The reference to funerals shows that Prince Fabrizio's connection with this setting is coming to an end. Soon, the whole modern world will be bought and sold by whoever has the most money. Fabrizio's ancestral homes will eventually be divided up and sold off, and the sadness of this is reflected in almost every description Lampedusa gives us.