the destruction of the nobility. The novel's decidedly non-Marxist depiction of the Sicilian working class also enraged the influential Communist Party of Italy. Despite or because of this controversy, The Leopard was to gain great critical acclaim, most famously from the English novelist E.M. Forster, but also by many 20th and 21st century critics worldwide. In 1959, it won Italy's highest award for fiction, the Strega Prize. Adaptations The novel served as the basis for a film directed by Luchino Visconti. Starring Burt Lancaster, Visconti's film has been described as a fresco of Sicilian life because of its opulent recreation of life. The saturated colours, cinematography, and Visconti's renowned attention to detail all helped make it the winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. 20th Century Fox cut the film dramatically for its original 1963 release, but in the 1980s Visconti's vision was re-released with English subtitles and the famous ballroom scene restored to its full 45 minute running time. The novel was adapted for radio by Michael Hastings and Promenade Productions and broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in 2008. The radio play starred then-relative unknowns Tom Hiddleston and Hayley Atwell alongside respected actors such as Stanley Townsend and Julie Legrand. Quotation "If we want everything to stay as it is, everything has to change." (spoken by Tancredi) "We were the Leopards, the Lions, those who'll take our place will be little jackals, hyenas; and the whole lot of us, Leopards, jackals, and sheep, we'll all go on thinking ourselves the salt of the earth." (spoken by Don Fabrizio) Current editions An edition of Il gattopardo following the manuscript of 1957 is published by Milano : Feltrinelli Editore, Universale Economica Archibald Colquhoun's English translation, The Leopard, originally published in 1960 by Collins (in the UK) and Pantheon Books (in the US) is available from London : The Harvill Press, Panther London : David Campbell, Everyman's Library New York: Pantheon Books New York: Pantheon Books (Paperback) References External links Il romanzo e il film: somiglianze e differenze "The Novel and the Film: resemblances and differences". In Italian. Accessed 15 October 2006. Donnafugata: The Leopard places in Palma di Montechiaro Donnafugata: The Leopard places in Santa Margherita Belice Vanity Fair article on recent restoration Personal tours of Lampedusa sites in Palermo and Sicily 1958 novels Fiction set in 1860 Fiction set in 1861 Fiction set in 1862 Fiction set