Netflix period drama is based on Il Gattopardo.

The Leopard, a new Netflix series set for release on 5 March, is a highly anticipated adaptation of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa's 1958 Italian novel Il Gattopardo.

The book, which chronicles the changes in Sicilian life and society during the unification of Italy, is considered one of the most important novels in modern Italian literature.

The story is set primarily in 1860, during the time of the Risorgimento, specifically during the period when Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi and the Redshirts swept through Sicily with the proletariat army known as The Thousand.

The new six-part miniseries on Netflix stars Kim Rossi Stuart as Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina, whose priviliged life is endangered when the unification of Italy threatens to dismantle the Sicilian aristocracy.

 In an attempt to protect his lineage, the Sicilian prince arranges a marriage between the beautiful Angelica (Deva Cassel) to his nephew Tancredi (Saul Nanni), breaking the heart of Corbera's daughter Concetta (Benedetta Porcaroli).

With a focus on the conflict between tradition and progress, the Netflix original Italian series delves into the themes of societal and revolutionary change, the decline of the aristocracy, and the personal struggles of Corbera.

Filming for the big-budget series took place in various Sicilian locations - Palermo, Siracusa and Catania - as well as in Rome.

 Tinny Andreatta, vice president for Italian content at Netflix, has described it as "an intimate affair that binds the great patriarch of this family and his beloved daughter."

"It’s a current story, despite being written almost 70 years ago" - Andreatta said - "In the soul of this work, there is an extraordinary humanity and universality, a specific and authentic identity that, precisely because it is unique, can reach everyone.”

The classic tale was also the basis for Luchino Visconti's award-winning 1963 film starring Burt Lancaster as Corbera, Alain Delon as Tancredi, Claudia Cardinale as Angelica, and Lucilla Morlacchi as Concetta.

Il Gattopardo was published in 1958 by the fledgling Feltrinelli, after being rejected by other leading publishing houses, the year after Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa died aged 60.

In 1959 the book won Italy's highest award for fiction, the Strega Prize, and went on to become the top-selling novel in Italian history.

Photos Netflix Italia