The Leopard Characters

Giovanni is the Prince and Princess’s second and most beloved son. He ran away from home to live a modest life in London, working in the coal and diamond industries. Giovanni writes his family occasionally.

Francesco Paolo is the Prince and Princess’s 16-year-old son, not to be confused with his older brother, Paolo.

Carolina is the Prince’s and Princess’s eldest daughter. She’s 20 years old when the story begins. A spinster in old age, Carolina lives with her sisters, Concetta and Caterina, and collects religious relics. She suspects that she is more even devoutly Catholic than the Pope.

Caterina one of the Prince and Princess’s daughters. She’s confined to a wheelchair. In old age, Caterina lives with her sisters, Concetta and Carolina.

Màlvica isthe Prince’s brother-in-law and friend who always stands up for the ideals of the monarchy. He flees Sicily after Garibaldi’s invasion, a move that the Prince chides as cowardly.

Mariannina is the Prince’s favorite prostitute in Palermo.

Don Ciccio Ferrara is the Prince’s accountant who is sympathetic to the revolution.

Russo is the Prince’s agent who is sympathetic to the revolution.

Don Onofrio Rotolo is a famously faithful and attentive steward of the Salinas’ palace at Donnafugata.

Don Ciccio Tumeo is the church organist in Donnafugata and the Prince’s faithful friend and hunting companion. When the Prince questions him in private, Tumeo irately admits that Mayor Don Calogero Sedàra changed his Plebiscite vote from “no” to yes.” Tumeo also scorns the idea of a Salina-Sedàra intermarriage.

Count Carlo Cavriaghi is a 19-year-old count and friend of Tancredi. Tancredi brings him home to Donnafugata in quickly-thwarted hopes of pleasing Concetta. Cavriaghi is good-humored and enjoys sentimental poetry.

Donna Bastiana is Angelica’s mother and Don Calogero Sedàra’s wife. She is rumored to be beautiful but also suffers from serious mental deficiencies—therefore, she’s kept hidden away and is rarely seen.

Fabrizietto is Paolo’s son and the Prince and Princess’s grandson. He’s the youngest of the Salina family at the time of the Prince’s death. The Prince loves Fabrizietto but regards him as disappointingly middle class and therefore not a viable carrier of the Salina legacy.

Don Pietrino is an old herbalist and friend of Father Pirrone’s. When Father Pirrone visits his birthplace, he talks with Don Pietrino about the changing political situation and the nature of the nobility.

Sarina is Father Pirrone’s sister, Vicenzino’s wife, and ‘Ncilina’s mother. Father Pirrone sorts out a family drama centered around her daughter.

‘Ncilina is Father Pirrone’s niece and Sarina and Vicenzino’s daughter. Her full name is Angelica. ‘Ncilina is said to have been seduced by Santino and then gotten pregnant. She agrees to marry Santino after Father Pirrone visits to sort matters out.

Vicenzino is Father Pirrone’s brother-in-law, Sarina’s husband, and ‘Ncilina’s father.

Santino is Father Pirrone’s cousin. He seduces his niece ‘Ncilina, instigated by his father, Turi.

Turi is Father Pirrone’s uncle and Santino’s father. He’s an unscrupulous man who carries a decades-old grudge against Father Pirrone’s father. It’s this grudge that motivates Turi to encourages Santino to seduce his cousin ‘Ncilina in order to regain some old family property through her dowry.

Pallavicino is a veteran and politician who attends the Ponteleone ball. He is famous for having shot Garibaldi in the foot.

Tassoni is a close friend of Tancredi who fought with him at the battle of Palermo. As an elderly senator, he visits Concetta and informs her that Tancredi always loved her.

Ferdinand II, Sicily’s second-to-last Bourbon king, is the Prince’s friend and Concetta’s godfather. He is anxious about his popularity, suspecting that his dynasty will soon be overthrown.

Victor was a historical figure, the first king of the unified Kingdom of Italy.