Donnafugata

This palace can also be reached by rail from Ragusa. It was originally built in the 14th century by the Chiaramonte family, but in the main it is a 19th century Romantic creation by Corrado Arezzo Barone di Donnafugata (1824-95). The large, crenellated structure has a Venetian facade with a Gothic loggia. The palace became famous after being described in the novel "The Leopard" by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1896-1957), although when the novel was made into a film the Lampedusa monastery was chosen as a backcloth instead of Donnafugata.