Netflix pulled out all the stops as it unveiled its hotly anticipated limited series “The Leopard,” based on the classic Sicily-set novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, which marks the streamer’s biggest splash in Italy thus far.

On Tuesday, Netflix held a packed press conference in the frescoed ballroom of Rome’s central Hotel Plaza, which was also used to film one of the show’s key scenes. “The Leopard” will formally premiere in Rome on March 3 with a black-tie gala held in the Eternal City’s Opera Theatre before dropping globally on March 5.

The lavish historical tapestry — with elements comparable to “Downton Abbey” or “The Crown” and potential to make a global mark — is a modern take on the sensual Sicilian saga famously adapted into a film by Luchino Visconti starring Claudia Cardinale, Alain Delon and Burt Lancaster. The film, now an Italian cinema classic, won the 1963 Palme...