by Stephanie Danler

My sister, Christina, and I were sitting in a garden in Palermo, a few sips into a midmorning Campari and soda, when I began to feel fraudulent. The sea breeze fanned up from the port and onto the terrace as our hostess, Nicoletta Polo Lanza Tomasi, the Duchess of Palma di Montechiaro, recounted the history of the palazzo we were visiting, which was once owned by the Lampedusa family.

It was on this very site, Nicoletta told us, that Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the last of the line, wrote The Leopard, which chronicles the fall of an aristocratic Sicilian family in the late 19th century. "Which of course you've read," she added, "as you are a writer, and are writing about Sicily." I shot my sister a look that said, Don't say a word.

Read more

Source: http://www.travelandleisure.com/