Lampedusa, Giuseppe Tomasi di

1896 - Born on the 23rd of December.

1911 - He attended the liceo classico in Roma and later in Palermo.

1915 - He moved definitively to Rome and enrolled in the faculty of Jurisprudence; however, that year he was drafted into the army, fought in the lost battle of Caporetto, and was taken prisoner by the Austrians.

1932 - He married Alexandra Wolff Stomersee, nicknamed "Licy", a student of psychoanalysis from a noble family of German origin.

1940 - He was briefly called back to arms, but, as head of a hereditary agricultural plantation, was soon sent back home to take care of its affairs.

1953 - He began to spend time with a group of young intellectuals, one of whom was Gioacchino Lanza, with whom he developed such a strong rapport that, the following year, he legally adopted him.

1954-1956 - Tomasi di Lampedusa was often the guest of his cousin, the poet Lucio Piccolo, with whom he travelled to San Pellegrino Terme, to attend a literary awards ceremony, where he met, among others Eugenio Montale and Maria Bellonci; it is said that it was upon returning from this trip that he wrote Il Gattopardo, which he finished.

1957 - Tomasi di Lampedusa was diagnosed with lung cancer and died on the 23rd of July in Rome.