Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Sicilian writer and prince

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (Italian pronunciation: [d?u'z?ppe to'ma?zi di lampe'du?za]; 23 December 1896 – 23 July 1957) was an Italian writer and the last Prince of Lampedusa.

He is most famous for his only novel, Il Gattopardo (first published posthumously in 1958), which is set in his native Sicily during the Risorgimento.

A taciturn and solitary man, he spent a great deal of his time reading and meditating, and used to say of himself "I was a boy who liked solitude, who preferred the company of things to that of people."