By Alice Philipson

It was home to a young Sicilian prince, a symbol of an aristocratic world in decline that was bombed during the Second World War and has lain in ruins ever since. Now a palatial white stone building in Palermo that inspired classic Italian novel The Leopard has been restored to its 19th century glory and is available for rent.

Palazzo Lampedusa was the beloved home of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, The Leopard's author and last prince of Lampedusa, for the first 47 years of his life.When it was hit by allied bombing in April 1943, the novelist sank into a deep depression and began to write as a way to understand what had happened to his home and his way of life.

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Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/