Laura Morelli
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Laura Morelli holds a Ph.D. in art history from Yale University, has taught college students in the U.S. and in Italy, and currently produces art history lessons for TED-Ed. She authored a column for National Geographic Traveler called “The Genuine Article” and has contributed pieces about art and authentic travel to CNN Radio, The Frommers Travel Show, and in USA TODAY, Departures, and other media. Laura is the author of the Authentic Arts guidebook series that includes the popular guidebook, Made in Italy. Her fiction brings the stories of art history to life. Her debut novel, The Gondola Maker, won an IPPY for Best Historical Fiction and a Benjamin Franklin Award.
Articles by Laura Morelli
New opportunities to visit a “secret room” beneath Florence’s Medici Chapels complex that contains Michelangelo-attributed drawings are now available…
It was the discovery of a lifetime. In 1975, Paolo dal Poggetto, director of the Medici Chapels of San Lorenzo in Florence, was looking for a way to f…
The birth of Christ — the Nativity — is one of the central images of Christian iconography and an immensely popular subject for Italian artists throug…
October brings the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, one of Italy’s most popular saints. Today, we associate Saint Francis with humility and self-impo…
When you step into the cavernous Venetian basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, it takes a minute or two for your eyes to adjust to the darkness…
The story of Judith and Holofernes begins when the Assyrian general Holofernes threatens to take the Jewish city of Bethulia. Judith, a God-fearing yo…
Nearly everyone on the globe recognizes the woman in Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, whether or not they have seen the iconic portrait in person in the…
According to ancient writers, the Etruscans of central Italy were distinct from their neighbors in the Mediterranean. Etruscan language, customs, and…
According to the biblical Gospel of Matthew, in the days after the birth of Jesus Christ, men traveled a great distance from the East to bring gifts t…
It’s been a half-millennium since Leonardo da Vinci set out to paint the now-famous portrait we call Mona Lisa. Scholars have penned millions of words…
2020 marked the five hundredth anniversary of the death of Raffaello Sanzio, an Italian Renaissance artist whose influence on later generations can ha…
Since ancient times, residents of the Italian peninsula have pulled coral and seashells from the waters of the Tyrrhenian and the Adriatic, using the…
For the residents of an ancient Etruscan settlement, any time the Romans came to town, it could only mean bad news. That’s because, starting in the fo…
The ancient Etruscan people occupied a swath of central Italy stretching roughly between Campania in the south, and the Po River in modern-day Lombard…
On December 25, Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Christ as it’s described in the Gospels. Over the course of centuries, artists expe…
Chimera of Arezzo
c. 400 B.C.E., bronze, 129 cm (just over 4 feet) in length
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Firenze
© Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeol…
Leonardo da Vinci, The Lady with the Ermine (presumed to be Cecilia Gallerani) 1489-90, oil on panel, Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, Poland
In 1482, Le…
Tarquinia lies about 100 km (60 miles) north of Rome and is an easy day trip by car, train, or bus. This classic Italian hill town sits perched near t…
Today, the town of Ravenna is one of Emilia-Romagna’s most important economic and industrial centers. Its thriving port serves the chemical, gas, and…
In the fall of 1504, 21-year-old Raffaello Sanzio mounted a mule and began winding his way down the mountainous pathsfrom Urbino. At first glance, lea…