Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa (1896-1957) was an Italian author, the Duke of Palma and last Prince of Lampedusa. He achieved posthumous fame with the publication of his only novel, Il Gattopardo. Born into the aristocracy at a time when his family's fortunes were in sharp decline, Lampedusa served as an artillery officer during World War I but was taken prisoner and interred in Hungary. After Lampedusa resisted family pressure to enter the diplomatic service, he travelled extensively in Europe, married a Freudian analyst from Riga and settled in Palermo.

From Classics and Italian at New College, Oxford, Ralph Nisbet moved to Italy in 1970. After co-founding a school of English as a Foreign Language, he went freelance and became a professional translator. He completed his first draft translation of Il Gattopardo in 1997-8, entirely for love. Ralph divides his time between Bologna and the local Apennines.