The area around the Colli was chosen in the eighteenth century by the aristocracy as a holiday resort. Villa Lampedusa (XVIII-XIX cent.), the Tomasi family's summer dwelling, is the Villa Salina in which The Leopard opens. Very close to it is Villa Valguarnera di Niscemi (XVIII cent.), another magnificent aristocratic abode, today the official seat of the Town Administration, which, in the novel, is Tancredi Falconeri's house. Next to it, a gate opens onto the garden of the Casina Cinese (XVIII cent.), where the Bourbon king of the Two Sicilies and his wife Maria Carolina resided during their exile from the court of Naples. In an annexe, once used by the servants, you can see the Sicilian Ethnographic Museum "G. Pitré", where everyday objects, clothes, handmade products belonging to the Sicilian handicraft tradition, coaches and litters document daily life between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. To go back to the town centre, it is possible to follow part of the same route followed by the prince of Salina together with Father Pirrone, meeting two other eighteenth century villas mentioned in The Leopard, Villa Airoldi and Villa Ranchibile . Among the houses at the Colli, the furthest is Villa Boscogrande (XVIII cent.), which however deserves a visit since it was chosen by Visconti as the setting for the opening scenes of his film.