Prince of Lampedusa

Princedom of Lampedusa
Arms: Azure, a leopard rampant guardant Or, standing upon a trimount Vert.
Creation date	13 August 1667
Created by	Charles II of Spain
Peerage	Peerage of Sicily
First holder	Giulio Tomasi, 2nd Duke of Palma
Last holder	Pietro Tomasi, 12th Prince of Lampedusa
Subsidiary titles	Duke of Palma Marquess of Torretta Baron of Montechiaro Baron of Torretta Grandee of Spain, Second Class
Status	extinct
Extinction date	1962
Seat	Palazzo Lampedusa alla Marina
Former seat	Palazzo Lampedusa
Motto	Spes mea in Deo est ("In God lies my hope")

Prince of Lampedusa was a title in the Peerage of Sicily. It was created by Charles II of Spain (as well as of Sardinia, Naples, and Sicily) in 1667 for Giulio Tomasi, 2nd Duke of Palma.^[1] By courtesy, the elder son of a Prince of Lampedusa would use the title Duke of Palma (di Montechiaro), created by Philip IV of Spain (as well as of Sardinia, Naples, and Sicily) in 1637 for the first prince’s father, Don Cesare Tomasi, 2nd Baron of Montechiaro; a prince’s younger son would style himself with the subsidiary title Marquess of Torretta. The principal title refers to the island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean Sea, which the Tomasi family sold to the state, along with the island of Linosa, in the 1840s. The holders of these titles (and their relatives) formed the Sicilian branch of the pan-Italian Tomasi family.

The Palazzo Lampedusa in Palermo was badly damaged during the Allied invasion of Sicily in 1943. The famous Italian novelist Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa was the last to officially hold the title of Prince of Lampedusa before the dissolution of the Kingdom of Italy; the last hereditary holder of the title was his uncle, sometime Italian ambassador in London and President of the Senate, Pietro Tomasi della Torretta. About a decade later, shortly before he died, Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa wrote The Leopard, a novel based in part on the life of his great-grandfather, Don Giulio Tomasi, 8th Prince of Lampedusa. During the same period in which he was writing The Leopard, Giuseppe Tomasi adopted his own distant cousin Gioacchino Lanza, thereafter known as Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi. Lanza Tomasi did not inherit the title Prince of Lampedusa, but did use the title Duke of Palma as a courtesy.

The title Baron of Montechiaro was created by Philip II of Spain (as well as of Sardinia, Naples, and Sicily) in 1563 for Don Federico Tomasi.