The Leopard

War breaks out between the Bourbon armies and Garibaldi's Redshirts, reshaping the island's political landscape. Don Fabrizio, the Prince of Salina, still savors the comforts of his lineage while watching the upheaval with curiosity and guarded melancholy. He senses that the long-standing order is being tested even as nothing yet seems to change on the surface.

Garibaldi's army advances and subdues Palermo, expropriating Sicily from the Bourbons. The Prince observes the advance with a mix of calculation and nostalgia, recognizing that ambitious changes threaten his world. The triumph of the new forces foreshadows a transformed Italy, even as the streets still feel familiar.

Upset by the upheaval, the Prince departs to his summer palace at Donnafugata to shelter from the storm. He contemplates how the middle class will replace the old ruling class, while appearances stubbornly mimic the past. He resigns himself to observing changes from a distance rather than leading them.

A new national assembly calls a plebiscite that nationalist forces win by an astonishing 512–0, aided by the town's corrupt leadership. Don Calogero Sedara comes to the Corbera villa with his daughter Angelica, inaugurating a new alliance of money and influence. The Prince and Tancredi see in Angelica a path to preserve some of their status within the emerging Italy.

With Don Calogero's blessing, Tancredi and Angelica announce their engagement. The match promises money for Tancredi and status for Angelica's family, aligning interests of old and new powers. The Prince views the arrangement with wary acceptance, already calculating the costs and benefits.

The Prince watches Tancredi quietly drift away from Garibaldi's cause toward King Victor Emmanuel's army. He recognizes a young man who will thrive in the new Italy by bending with the wind rather than standing against it. This shift foreshadows how personal ambition can ride the tides of national transformation.

Cavalier Chevalley arrives from the Kingdom of Sardinia and asks the Prince to join the senate of the nascent Kingdom of Italy. The Prince declines, arguing that Sicily clings to its traditions and resents the delusions of modernity. He predicts that aristocrats will be replaced by bureaucrats, even as the general public remains convinced they are the salt of the earth.

The Corberas attend a grand ball at a neighboring prince's villa, signaling Angelica's debut into high society. The Prince becomes melancholic and disenchanted with the nouveau riche spectacle, wandering from room to room as if searching for his former self. Angelica's presence punctuates the social whirl and the old order's fragility.

Angelica invites the Prince to dance, and for a moment he recaptures the refined grace of the past. Yet the moment fades quickly, and he sinks back into disillusionment with the social edifice around him. The encounter underscores the distance between tradition and the changing Italy.

In the early morning, the Prince leaves the ball alone and walks through the quiet streets. He pauses to let a priest carrying last rites pass and then enters a dark alley that symbolizes the fading past to which he feels he belongs. The moment encapsulates the tension between privilege and a history slipping away.