Laura Morelli
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08/01/2026
Yes, I'm writing another book... 📚
So many of you have asked what I'm working on next. Thank you!
I'm back in the studiolo (my happy place), and back into my current historical novel in progress.
This one is moving slowly, y'all.
The good news: The first draft and first revision are DONE. Whew! These, for me, are the hardest parts of writing fiction.
Of the two main characters, one came out so easily, and the other one is giving me a run for my money. 😂 Ah, how fictional characters can torment their authors...
I've had to cut about 30,000 words (ouch), which is a painful but sometimes necessary part of the revision process.
This story has surprised me with its twists and turns. And I love, love, love the topic, historical setting, and characters.
Avanti!
31/12/2025
While 2025 delivered a giant "low" at the end (see my previous posts), it also came through with many more wonderful "highs." Here are some of the best of 2025:
1. The launch of THE KEEPER OF LOST ART
2. Marrakesh
3. Pompeii
4. Sardinia
5. Cerveteri
6. Napoli
7. Sardinia (again)
8. Calabria
9. Sardinia (again)
10. Reggio di Calabria
11. Milan
12. In Hollywood to film something I still can't even talk about
13. Stonehenge
14. Signing THE KEEPER OF LOST ART at one of my local bookstores
15. Rome ☕
16. Florence
17. Florence (again)
18. London
19. Atlas Mountains, Morocco
20. On the party bus with my writer friends at the Historical Novel Society meeting (so very glad I don't have to go to Las Vegas again to see them next time--LOL)
Personally, I'm wishing for more of these highs in 2026.
How about you? What's on your bucket list for the new year?
This week, my newsletter subscribers are learning about what is arguably the strangest and most beautiful of all Italian Nativities: Sandro Botticelli's rendition of the subject from about 1500...
Among the countless retellings of the Christmas story in Italian art, Botticelli's so-called Mystic Nativity stands out for its unusual subject matter.
This is Botticelli’s only known painting where he inscribed his own name. And yet, we know so little about the circumstances of its creation.
No primary sources from the sixteenth century help us understand this puzzling picture. We don’t know who the patron was; we don’t have evidence of a commission or an original location. We don’t know what prompted Botticelli to paint such an unusual image of Christ's birth.
But there is still so much to unpack here that I created an online "mini deep dive" into Botticelli's Christmas masterpiece.
I hope you'll join me to explore this fascinating and unusual work of art!
The invitation to dive into the various interpretations of this painting is going out exclusively to my newsletter subscribers this week.
If you're not getting my Tuesday emails, make sure you've signed up...
👉 I send a free email every Tuesday, where we nerd out on books, Italy, and art history! If this sounds like your kind of place, too, then please join me!
👉 lauramorelli.com/subscribe
This week, my newsletter subscribers and I are diving into the history of the Nativity in Italian Renaissance art...
According to legend, the tradition of live nativity scenes began with Saint Francis of Assisi, who reenacted the birth of Christ using actors and animals in the central Italian town of Greccio in 1223.
Over time, popular piety and the Italian love of public processions fueled this tradition.
By the fourteenth century, the Nativity had evolved as a popular subject among Italian sculptors and painters.
The subject is immediately recognizable: the newborn Christ in the center of the composition, surrounded by Mary, Joseph, animals, and sometimes the presence of visiting saints, kings, or other figures.
Much more in this week's newsletter...
👉 I send a free email every Tuesday, where we nerd out on books, Italy, and art history! If this sounds like your kind of place, too, then please join me!
👉 lauramorelli.com/subscribe
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