Laura Morelli: Art History, Art Historical Fiction, Authentic Travel

Across the Alpine regions of northern Italy, artisans share common traditions with their Swiss, German, and Austrian neighbors to the north: everything from copper cookware to woolens and cuckoo ...

https://lauramorelli.com/handmade-in-italy-christmas-carving-in-trentino/

Cookie Dough ▢2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ▢1/2 tsp baking soda ▢2 tsp baking powder ▢1 tsp salt ▢2 eggs ▢1/2 cup unsalted butter softened ▢1 2/3 cups sugar ▢1 1/2 ...

https://lauramorelli.com/italian-lemon-ricotta-cookies/

In the Mediterranean Sea, the most desirable red coral, Corallum rubrum, grows between ten and three hundred meters below the surface. It does not make up part of a reef system, but rather grows ...

https://lauramorelli.com/how-italian-coral-jewelry-is-made/

Much of what we know about the ancient Etruscans comes from a funerary context—tombs, buried objects, and necropoli or cities of the dead. But at the archeological site at Roselle, in southwest...

https://lauramorelli.com/roselle/

In Lombardy, people have made crafts from stone, plentiful in the mountains above Bergamo and Brescia, since the Iron Age. In a valley known as Valmalenco north of Brescia, prehistoric residents ...

https://lauramorelli.com/carved-soapstone-of-italy/

Authentic Naples The Centro Storico (Historic Center) and the old Quartiere Spagnoli (Spanish Quarter) neighborhoods contain a high concentration of artisans, from furniture and antiques restorer...

https://lauramorelli.com/great-authentic-shopping-streets-in-naples/

The famous tart-sweet liqueur known as limoncello requires only four ingredients: lemon peels, grain alcohol, sugar, and water. However, like many of Italy’s most important culinary traditions,...

https://lauramorelli.com/best-of-the-amalfi-coast-limoncello-buyers-guide/

For a first-time visitor, Naples can prove an overwhelming experience. All of us want to come home from Italy with a special souvenir, but selecting what to bring home can be intimidating. How do...

https://lauramorelli.com/authentic-shopping-in-naples-along-the-amalfi-coast/

Around the toe of Italy’s boot lies a coastline marked with clear waters, craggy cliff sides, sandy coves, and stones worn smooth by the waves. High above it all, the town of Squillace perches ...

https://lauramorelli.com/authentic-calabria-squillace-is-a-ceramics-destination-on-the-toe-of-italys-boot/

One of the most distinctive artisanal traditions of Sicily is handmade marionettes. These characters are the stars of the Sicilian theater, the opera dei pupi (òpira dî pupi in Sicilian dialect...

https://lauramorelli.com/the-sicilian-marionette-theater/

I promise that getting around Naples and its region will prove an exciting part of your trip! In the city, exercise common sense. It’s a good idea to find a centrally located hotel and whenever...

https://lauramorelli.com/navigating-naples-the-amalfi-coast/

The winery of Rocca di Frassinello rises from the hills of southwest Tuscany, a striking, contemporary architectural design against quiet rows of grape vines and a verdant, densely wooded landsca...

https://lauramorelli.com/did-the-ancient-etruscans-drink-wine/

Etruscan art is having a moment. While most visitors to Italy are already familiar with sites and collections from the Roman era, many are beginning to discover the fascinating culture of the anc...

https://lauramorelli.com/etruscan-art-in-italy-sixnot-to-miss-collections-to-put-on-your-itinerary/

Sarcophagus of the Spouses, c. 520 BCE, life-sized, painted terracotta National Etruscan Museum, Villa Giulia, Rome On the lid of a large terra-cotta sarcophagus dating from about 520 BCE, a husb...

https://lauramorelli.com/italy-before-the-romans-the-etruscan-sarcophagus-of-the-spouses/

The hilltop village of Caltagirone rises like a mirage above the parched landscape of central Sicily. Scrubby plants and olive trees eke out their existence in the sand-colored earth, along with ...

https://lauramorelli.com/best-of-sicily-shopping-for-ceramics-in-caltagirone/

When most people think of Italian pottery, they think of maiolica,the rich, colorful tin-glazed earthenware that flourished in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries in ceramics towns...

https://lauramorelli.com/ceramics-of-faenza/

Today, coral and cameo jewelry constitute a large industry in and around Naples, employing some several thousand people. Many of the larger producers in Torre del Greco cater to the trade only, a...

https://lauramorelli.com/how-to-buy-cameos-coral-2/

Le Marche is the quiet cousin to its neighboring regions of Tuscany and Umbria. Wedged snugly between the Apennine Mountains and the Adriatic Sea, Le Marche remains geographically and culturally ...

https://lauramorelli.com/le-marche-handmade/

Years ago, I decided that the greatest need in our country was art… We were a very young country and had very few opportunities of seeing beautiful things, works of art… So, I determined to m...

https://lauramorelli.com/italian-renaissance-art-in-america/

Today, coral and cameo jewelry constitute a large industry in and around Naples, employing some several thousand people. Many of the larger producers in Torre del Greco cater to the trade only, a...

https://lauramorelli.com/how-to-buy-cameos-coral/

Tuscany is one of the most well-loved parts of Italy, but most international travelers overlook the region’s northernmost province, known as Massa Carrara. Wedged between Tuscany, Emilia-Romagn...

https://lauramorelli.com/carrara-and-the-tuscan-coast/

The first time I visited Venice as a wide-eyed teenager, I knew I was supposed to go home with Murano glass but I had no idea why. All I knew was that my friend and I were lured to the famous “...

https://lauramorelli.com/adventures-in-artisanship-and-the-challenges-of-tourism-in-venice/

Southern Italy boasts a surprisingly diverse range of ceramic styles—everything from the milky-white porcelain of Naples to the serious and somber tones of Castelli and Squillace, to the bold s...

https://lauramorelli.com/capodimonte-porcelain/

Today, the streetside trinket shops of Sorrento overflow with quickly and cheaply turned out wooden souvenirs that bear little resemblance to the masterpieces of intarsia that have brought Sorren...

https://lauramorelli.com/how-to-buy-intarsia/

They lure us with their facial expressions: proud, sad, joyful, lewd, angelic, humorous. Few Italian traditions have this ability to pull at our heartstrings, to surprise and delight us, to make ...

https://lauramorelli.com/a-history-of-neapolitan-nativities/

Since the Industrial Revolution, many of Italy’s important industries—textiles, automobiles, fashion, banking, telecommunications, and manufacturing of every incarnation—have claimed the re...

https://lauramorelli.com/lombardy-handmade/

Italians have pulled coral and seashells from the Mediterranean and the Adriatic Seas since ancient times, using the ocean’s bounty to make some of Italy’s most beautiful adornments. The shor...

https://lauramorelli.com/coral-jewelry-of-naples-and-torre-del-greco/

I once spent the month of August on Italy’s largest island and I can vouch for its scorching heat. There’s nothing like a cone overflowing with Sicilian gelato, among the richest and sweetest...

https://lauramorelli.com/best-of-sicily-granita/

ORDER THE NIGHT PORTRAIT Explore my books: Learn more about Laura Morelli's Authentic Arts guidebook series.  The post Another Cover Reveal! appeared first on Laura Morelli: Art History, Ar...

https://lauramorelli.com/night-portrait-reveal/

ORDER THE GIANT Explore my books: Learn more about Laura Morelli's Authentic Arts guidebook series.  The post A Virtual Trip to Italy… And a Cover Reveal! appeared first on Laura Morelli:...

https://lauramorelli.com/giant-reveal/

Quarantine 2020: How are you doing? We're all in this together! I can't ever remember a time when the entire world was facing a crisis all at once. We are living in surreal times, that's for sure...

https://lauramorelli.com/quarantine-update/

Did you know? The word quarantine originated in Venice during the plague. That’s because the concept of quarantena, meaning a duration of forty days (quaranta = 40 in Italian), was exactly how...

https://lauramorelli.com/quarantine-in-italy/

Cameos involve carving in relief, or designing an image to project out of a background of a different shade of color. Conversely, in jewelry, engraving and intaglio refer to carving or cutting an...

https://lauramorelli.com/how-italian-cameos-are-made/

Suddenly, pandemics are in the news again. Each time that a new, scary epidemic takes the world by storm, I think about what it must have been like in centuries past, when illnesses we understand...

https://lauramorelli.com/we-all-fall-down/

Italians have pulled coral and seashells from the Mediterranean and the Adriatic since ancient times, using the bounty of the sea to make some of Italy’s most beautiful adornments. The region i...

https://lauramorelli.com/a-history-of-italian-cameos/

Few of us would mistake Milan for Munich, but some southern Italians jokingly call their northern countrymentedeschi, a nod to the cultural ties that the Alpine regions of Italy share with German...

https://lauramorelli.com/craft-traditions-of-the-italian-alps-2/

In the arid countryside around Calangianus, Sardinia, bark is rudely stripped from the lower trunks of the gnarled trees that blanket the hillsides. Driving through this area—covered by parched...

https://lauramorelli.com/italy-untapped-cork-artisans-of-sardinia/

Christmas is one of my favorite times to visit Italy, in part because handmade crafts take center stage. At holiday markets across the country, you can locate treasures like glass ornaments, nati...

https://lauramorelli.com/italys-best-christmas-gifts/

Italians have pulled coral and seashells from the Mediterranean and the Adriatic since ancient times, using the bounty of the sea to make some of Italy’s most beautiful adornments. The region i...

https://lauramorelli.com/italian-coral-and-cameos-a-history/

I have a cool story to tell you.   Earlier this summer, I had my head down, working hard on the launch of my online course on Etruscan art.   One day, out of the blue, I got an email from someo...

https://lauramorelli.com/etruscanadventure/

The beautiful lakeside city of Como lies just a few miles south of the Swiss border. Once a magnet for weavers working fabric on antique looms, Como silk now relies almost entirely on industrial ...

https://lauramorelli.com/silk-of-como/

Since ancient times, the people of central Italy have mined alabaster from the hills of the Tuscan countryside. The ancient Etruscans prized alabaster for its durability over centuries, not to me...

https://lauramorelli.com/alabaster-of-volterra/

Few of us would mistake Milan for Munich, but some southern Italians jokingly call their northern countrymen tedeschi, a nod to the cultural ties that the Alpine regions of Italy share with Germa...

https://lauramorelli.com/craft-traditions-of-the-italian-alps/

Lodi is a quiet, picturesque medieval town just beyond the southern fringes of Milan’s urban sprawl. Ceramicists have worked here since Roman times, but Lodi’s ceramic heyday didn’t begin u...

https://lauramorelli.com/porcelain-of-lodi/

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to be a great patron of the arts--just like the Medici family of Renaissance Florence--read on. In past centuries, patrons supported their writers an...

https://lauramorelli.com/announcing-patreon/

Hello, friends and readers! My friend Kathleen Ann Gonzalez is a pure Venetophile. She is an English teacher from California who spends a lot of time in Venice, and chronicles her travels and fas...

https://lauramorelli.com/confessions-venice-addicts/

Cremona’s native sons put this town in central Lombardy on the map by crafting the world’s earliest and best violins. In the 1530s, Andrea Amati began developing an early form of the violin, ...

https://lauramorelli.com/violins-of-cremona/

Many travelers to Italy count silk ties and scarves among their favorite souvenirs, and silk accessories form a kaleidoscope of color in shop windows. The beautiful lakeside city of Como has been...

https://lauramorelli.com/how-to-buy-italian-silk/

Sicily is one of the world’s largest producers of almonds, with orchards dating to ancient times. Almonds form the basis for many typical Sicilian dishes, especially desserts, from almond cake ...

https://lauramorelli.com/martorana-fruits-sicily/

Italians have pulled coral and seashells from the Mediterranean and the Adriatic Seas since ancient times, using the ocean’s bounty to make some of Italy’s most beautiful adornments. The shor...

https://lauramorelli.com/coral-jewelry-naples-torre-del-greco/

Faenza, located in the heart of Emilia-Romagna halfway between Bologna and the Adriatic Sea, is one of Italy’s most important centers of ceramic heritage. In fact, the term faience is just a Fr...

https://lauramorelli.com/ceramics-faenza/

For people like me with a passion for traditional cultures, Abruzzo and Molise are among Italy’s most interesting regions. These rural communities—cut off from the rest of the Italian peninsu...

https://lauramorelli.com/bagpipes-scapoli/

For people like me with a passion for traditional cultures, Abruzzo is one of Italy’s most interesting regions. Its rural communities—cut off from the rest of the Italian peninsula by formida...

https://lauramorelli.com/castelli-abruzzo/

Amazon recently sent me an email saying that because they had identified me as an "influencer" (what a funny word) they were offering me a Laura Morelli Store on Amazon.com! Everyone who emails m...

https://lauramorelli.com/laura-morelli-amazon-store/

I am pleased to welcome my fellow author, historian, and Venetophile friend Kathleen Ann Gonzalez. Kathleen is the creator of the wonderful blog, Seductive Venice, and the author of several book...

https://lauramorelli.com/beautiful-woman-venice-interview-kathleen-ann-gonzalez/

Recently my kids and I went to see the Broadway musical, Matilda, which is based on Roald Dahl's book. In preparation for the show we did some research on Dahl himself, and I came across this fa...

https://lauramorelli.com/writers-routines/

When most people think of Italian ceramics, they think of maiolica: the rich, colorfully decorated earthenware that flourished across the Mediterranean in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth...

https://lauramorelli.com/ceramics-capitals-umbria/

For centuries, Murano glassmakers have been masters of experimentation. True to the Venetian interest in reflective materials and saturated color, over the centuries Murano glassmakers experiment...

https://lauramorelli.com/how-murano-glass-is-made/

The peaceful island of Burano is the undisputed capital of Italian lace history. A 45-minute boat ride from the Piazza San Marco, Burano is worth the trip to see lacemakers work their magic. Toda...

https://lauramorelli.com/how-to-buy-venetian-lace/

For me, souvenir-collecting is an occupational hazard. An author of shoppers' guidebooks, I inevitably learn from my own mistakes. When it comes to bringing home the goods, I've made plenty of th...

https://lauramorelli.com/how-to-ship-souvenirs-home-from-overseas/

As an art historian, naturally I have studied the great Italian artists of the past—Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Tintoretto, the Lorenzetti, Modigliani, Balla, and others. However, after li...

https://lauramorelli.com/why-i-write-about-italian-craftsmanship/

Recently I had the great fortune to see the acclaimed documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns, speak in person at Boston's Symphony Hall. I am a big fan of Ken Burns' films, and I was particularly inte...

https://lauramorelli.com/what-i-learned-about-storytelling-from-ken-burns/

A fiercely independent spirit—a strong sense of “us” and “them”—characterizes the people of central Italy, and this is especially true for the Florentines. That passionate independenc...

https://lauramorelli.com/the-spirit-of-florentine-arts/

When you shop in a foreign city, do you ever wonder whether you're buying something authentic, paying too much or falling prey to a tourist trap? I once paid an exorbitant price for a Venetian gl...

https://lauramorelli.com/let-the-souvenir-buyer-beware/

Happy October! My new short story, "Bridge of Sighs," is finally here! I've just hit "publish" on my latest short story, “Bridge of Sighs," on Amazon.com, and it is now officially for sale i...

https://lauramorelli.com/bridge-of-sighs-is-out/

I've just returned home from a wonderful few days in the United Kingdom, where I attended the annual meeting of the Historical Novel Society. This event was fantastic on so many levels: the chanc...

https://lauramorelli.com/historical-novel-society-2016-oxford-england/

The first time I visited Venice as a wide-eyed teenager, I knew I was supposed to buy Murano glass, but I had no idea why. All I knew was that I was whisked to the famous “glass island” on a...

https://lauramorelli.com/why-i-write-art-historical-fiction/

"The more the marble wastes, the more the statue grows," wrote Michelangelo Buonarroti. The Renaissance master was intimately familiar with the marble quarries near Carrara, in Tuscany, where he ...

https://lauramorelli.com/carrara-marble-art-and-history/

Some of the most impressive examples of Florentine woodwork are reserved for doorways, so keep your eyes open for these breathtaking works of art. Most visitors will be led to Lorenzo Ghiberti’...

https://lauramorelli.com/the-doors-of-florence/

Happy summer, friends! I've been busy this summer revising drafts of a new novel. I'm so excited to share a little bit about it. Also, I need your help! The Painter's Apprentice A tale of forbidd...

https://lauramorelli.com/which-book-cover-do-you-like-best/

Where did picture frames come from? Most people have never thought about the history of picture frames. Throughout the Middle Ages, central Italian artists painted on wooden panels, not on canvas...

https://lauramorelli.com/history-of-picture-frames/

Many Italians visit their local silversmith when they become engaged to be married or when they want to have their grandparents’ silver restored, knowing their beloved heirlooms stand in good h...

https://lauramorelli.com/italian-metalsmiths-bronze-silver-copper-gold/

The first translated edition of my historical novel, The Gondola Maker, will hit the shelves next month--in Hungary! Working with my Hungarian agent has been a fortuitous and wonderful process...

https://lauramorelli.com/gondola-maker-debuts-hungarian/

I had such a fantastic response to my call for help in selecting a narrator to produce the audiobook edition of my historical novel, The Gondola Maker. Many of you took time from your busy sche...

https://lauramorelli.com/and-the-narrator-is/

Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, called Naples Italy “the flower of paradise,” and a fellow French writer, Gustave Flaubert, referred to it as “a Mediterranean Paris.” The...

https://lauramorelli.com/naples-italy-a-jewel-in-the-crown/

Rome is nothing if not impressive. The scale and density of the city’s ancient monuments, Baroque architecture, and public works of art provide a feast for the eyes, but they also overshadow th...

https://lauramorelli.com/artisans-of-rome/

I'm watching huge, wet April snowflakes fall outside the window of my study this morning! It's a good day to brew some tea and work on my latest project: producing an audiobook edition of The Go...

https://lauramorelli.com/the-gondola-maker-audiobook/

I had had my dreams of Venice. But nothing that I had dreamed was as impossible as what I found. ―ARTHUR SYMONS, CITIES, 1903 Venice rises from a marshy Adriatic lagoon like a surreal vision: a...

https://lauramorelli.com/the-construction-of-venice-2/

Venice claims an important position in the history of bookmaking and publishing. The city’s geographic position as a gateway to the East, its preeminence in international trade, and its place a...

https://lauramorelli.com/venetian-paper-bookbinding-a-brief-history/

Earlier this month I had the pleasure to return to one of my favorite events of the year: the New York Times Travel Show. Working as an author is a solitary pursuit. Being an introvert, I am fine...

https://lauramorelli.com/new-york-times-travel-show/

Venetian marbled paper (carta marmorizzata) is made by swirling pigments into a large, shallow pan of water, then laying the paper gently and briefly on the surface of the water to transfer the ...

https://lauramorelli.com/venetian-marbled-paper/

The opportunities to buy leather in Florence are vast, from luxury boutiques, to raucous street bazaars, to “private” workshops, to sidewalk trinket sellers. To make matters more confusing, t...

https://lauramorelli.com/leather-shopping-in-florence-italy/

This month I am pleased to welcome my fellow author, medievalist, and Venetophile friend Octavia Randolph. Octavia has written a fantastic series of historical novels set in 9th-century England a...

https://lauramorelli.com/john-ruskin-and-venice-guest-post-by-author-octavia-randolph/

Exquisitely painted some five centuries ago, a small brown stag appears to leap from the clay fragment I hold in my hand. Gingerly, I return it to its owner, the master of one of Deruta's most hi...

https://lauramorelli.com/maiolica-from-umbria/

The American Southwest is one of my favorite places (I even wrote a book about it...), and I was thrilled to be able to spend some of the summer in Arizona this year. One of my dreams was to brin...

https://lauramorelli.com/native-american-symbols-sites/

Some of the most fascinating and authentic finds in Venice appear in unexpected places—on the side of a church altar, in a street-corner shrine, on a sign in the alleyway. Don’t miss these fu...

https://lauramorelli.com/venice-our-lady-of-the-ferry-station/

I've had so many book-related events recently that I decided it was high time to organize a "book signing bag" that stays packed and ready to go whenever I am giving a talk, joining a book club, ...

https://lauramorelli.com/whats-in-my-book-signing-bag-2/

In 1880, twenty-four of the thirty inpatients at the women-only San Clemente “lunatic asylum” in Venice were listed on the books as lacemakers. Whether a coincidence or a measure of the long-...

https://lauramorelli.com/burano-lace-a-history/

I'm excited to announce a new partnership with MANIMENTI, a Rome-based startup that is bringing the best of "Made in Italy" to the web. What is Manimenti? MANIMENTI is a curated website bringing ...

https://lauramorelli.com/made-in-italy-manimenti/

Earlier this week I took a trip "back home" to coastal Georgia. I can't stay away for long, or I become homesick for the humid, salt-tinged air; the bright quality of the sunlight; the evening so...

https://lauramorelli.com/enjoying-coastal-georgia-with-frances-mayes/

The cluster of islands known as Murano emerges from the Venetian lagoon, a vast expanse of water whose surface reflects every shift in light. Since the thirteenth century, glassmakers have observ...

https://lauramorelli.com/murano-glass-a-brief-history/

The craft traditions of Florence are deeply embedded in the city’s history, arguably more so than in any city in the world. From the twelfth century onward, the Florentine craft guilds, the Cor...

https://lauramorelli.com/the-craft-traditions-of-florence-italy/

Take one glance at the hundreds of leather jackets flapping in the breeze in the San Lorenzo market, and you will realize how overwhelming shopping in Florence can be. We all want to come home fr...

https://lauramorelli.com/shopping-in-florence-italy/

My new pair of Authentic Arts guidebooks to Florence, Italy has just hit the shelves! Yay! Leather shopping in Florence is one of my most frequently requested topics, and let me tell you, it�...

https://lauramorelli.com/shopping-in-florence/

It would be easy to fill an entire book with terminology pertaining specifically to Murano glass. Murano glass is an exceptionally complex art with many different techniques and combinations. Wit...

https://lauramorelli.com/traditional-types-of-murano-glass/

In the heyday of the Venetian Republic, some ten thousand gondolas transported dignitaries, merchants, and goods through the crowded canals and lagoons of the water-logged city. Today, only about...

https://lauramorelli.com/a-brief-history-of-the-venetian-gondola/

We authors wouldn’t be anywhere without our readers. In fact, only one group of people really matters to authors (and no, it's not my editors, my designers, or my proofreaders, even though I d...

https://lauramorelli.com/where-would-i-be-without-you/

The opulence of Venetian style is deeply rooted in time. In the history of art, Venice plays a unique and important role. In addition to its novel political organization—hailed as a model of go...

https://lauramorelli.com/the-essence-of-venetian-style/

Venice boasts one of the most confusing address systems in all of Italy, and in a country where each city has its own unique way of denoting addresses, that’s saying a lot! Venice is divided i...

https://lauramorelli.com/getting-lost-and-finding-your-way-in-venice/

On Murano, the famous "glass island" of Venice, prices for glass vary according to three main factors: The techniques used to execute the piece. You’ll pay more for more threads (the colored ...

https://lauramorelli.com/murano-glass-how-much-to-pay/