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I love hearing from you and appreciate your feedback!
May I use your image of a gaffer and link to your page about Glass Blowing in Murano?
It will be on a post I’m writing about an upcoming trip we’re taking to Italy and will post on 10/29/2012.
To see a bit of what I write (just family-life-type stuff) I’m at http://www.thehamricks.wordpress.com.
~Jennifer Hamrick
Hi Jennifer,
I’m flattered that you asked, and am happy to have you link to this image.
Thank you and enjoy your trip to Italy!
Laura Morelli
Hi Laura,
I hope you don’t mind me getting in touch. I’m the editor of The Local Italy – http://www.thelocal.it and was wondering if you’d be interested in doing an interview, as well as sharing some insights into Italian life? Thank you, Angela
Hi Angela,
I’d be happy to help and will contact you directly.
Kind regards,
Laura Morelli
Hi. Love your blog. Would like any suggestions for good and reasonably priced Italian shoes to buy during trip to the country. Thanks.:-)
Thank you for following! What kind of shoes are you looking for? Are you interested in handmade shoes? Where are you headed in Italy?
HI Laura!
I loved The Gondola Maker. You completely enveloped me in the story, and now I want to learn more about the history of gondolas! I’ve posted my reviews on my blog, Amazon, and Goodreads. Thanks for a wonderful tale.
Suzanne
Hi Suzanne, thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed The Gondola Maker. –Laura
LOVED it. 🙂
This is my Goodreads review of “The Painter’s Apprentice”:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2167888193
Hi Robert, I am sincerely grateful for your review. Thank you very much! –Laura
HI, Laura. I’m just starting to research a trip to Venice (and the surrounding area) for sometime next year (2019). I found your “Made in Venice” book, and have already enjoyed it’s format, information, and great tips! I signed up for the Artisans of Venice download, and I’m sure that’s going to be wonderful as well. Thank you for providing such great guidance for those of us who are “newbies” to Venice. I love buying from artisans, and this will make the adventure much more enjoyable!
Hello, Laura:
I am writing a travel post for Medium.com about the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna and would like permission to quote from your post on the mosaics in Ravenna. I would also include a link to your post as well as a link to The Gondola Maker. (I’m a top writer on Medium for Parenting and Education, but lately, I’ve also been posting interviews I’ve done with my daughter about her internship at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice and her travels around northern Italy.) Here’s my Medium profile: https://medium.com/@marilyn_yung
Thank you for your consideration!
Thanks for the link, Marilyn!
LOVE your books..keep writing..LOVE Venice
Laura, just a quick note to say thank you. I just finished THE GONDOLA MAKER and adored this unique love story–between a young man and his ancestral craft. I posted a little about it on my blog, if you care to read: https://rustbeltgirlblog.wordpress.com/2019/03/20/this-weeks-tandem-read/ I have to say there are few good boat stories written by women. (I know because I search for them, having written a novel MS about an Italian sardine fisherman in CA at the start of WWII.) From the subject matter, to the history expertly woven in, to the gorgeous prose, THE GONDOLA MAKER has made me very excited to read your latest. Thanks again!
Just finished ‘the Painter’s Apprentice’ and LOVED it. In the back it said I could see the gilded boxes Maria makes and suggestions for further readings, etc…..I haven’t found either, please explain,
Jane
Hi Jane, If you follow the link in the back of the book, it will take you to the behind-the-scenes research vault. If you have trouble locating it, please email me at [email protected]. Thank you for reading! –Laura
Hello Laura, I love your website and your books (I’ve read every one). My daughter is getting married in 1 year in the US. She would like a wedding veil made in Italy (“for me”) and have an Italian woman embroider small shamrocks (in white thread) on the veil (for her Dad who is of Irish descent). I’m wondering if you’d be able to refer me to anyone or to point me in the right direction in terms of an internet search (which I have spent hours doing, but to no avail, except that it led me to your beautiful website!!!). Grazie mille e tanti cari saluti!
Hi Rita, it sounds like a wonderful idea for a wedding veil–wow! There are wonderful artisan lace-makers in towns with important lace traditions (like those of the Veneto and Abruzzo). In addition, there are flourishing custom bridal wear makers in Florence and Naples. Are you going to Italy? Italian artisans are masters of the made-to-measure. Sounds like a good excuse! 🙂 –Laura
Signora Morelli,
I enjoyed your Painter’s Apprentice and am looking forward to reading more. As a laureato of L’Universita’ degli Studi di Bologna I wonder about the capability of Signora Trevisan to get pregnant with a third baby while breast feeding her second, I follow a second life as a rompicoglioni.
I have many pleasant memories of Venice where I disembarked from the S.S. Vulcania on a dreary October day in 1963, found a pensione, and started my first of many wanderings around La Serenissima. The following year I was able to introduce my wife and three children to San Marco, the boys loved feeding an chasing pigeons. Finally many of our return visits to Italy have included soggiorni.in Venezia.
Tante belle cose,
Noel BonTempo
[email protected]. .
Thank you so much for sharing your memories and for reading THE PAINTER’S APPRENTICE! –Laura
Hi Laura, I’m living in Rome.
My name is Elia Fleta Mallol, I’m a singer and I’m learning how to paint religious icon here in Rome, but I’m from Madrid ( Spain).
I’m interested to know more about the women in ancient art.
A big hug: Elia Fleta Mallol
Hey Laura, I recently watched one of your online webinars about Etruscan women and I was blown away by the interesting facts and pieces of history found in artworks of ancient Etruria. Thanks so much! – K
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Thank you! 🙂
Ms. Morelli,
Just finished your beautiful book on The Painter’s Apprentice. I am so happy to have the chance to read your TPA bonus. I loved it and learned so much. I am about to embark on The Gondola Maker. Thanks for your writing. Best.
Hi Ana, I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the story. Thank you! –Laura
Dear Laura:
Thank you for bringing into the light the real sense of art. I listened to the masterclass of Micheangelo’s David. It was a beautiful, serene, and also an intellectual experience. You made me remember why I felt in love with Art History 20 years ago. We need to remember -constantly- that a work of art is the evidence of human creativity and all that such characteristic implies. Hope your books will be translated into other languages in the near future.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Andrea! –Laura
Hi Laura, I have just finished reading The Night Portrait and absolutely loved it! It helped me get through the longest lockdown in the world this year, in Melbourne Australia. I love the way you so thoroughly intertwine the real historical facts ( so many) with wonderful character development. It does feel like you are there during that time. That’s what I love about your books. I have long followed and researched many of the women sitters of Leonardo and in 2016 I went to Milan and saw the home bequeathed by Il Moro to Cecilia Gallerani which is now a Piccolo Teatro just off the main via of Milan. My husband also went to Kraków in 2019 and saw the painting in the flesh
in the newly appointed National Art Museum after the purchase of the Collection from the Polish Prince. My husband was surprised at the lack of security around the painting and so I hope it continues to survive and be appreciated for centuries to come. I was so taken by your character Edith Becker and I wondered if you had based her on someone like Rose Valland.. ? But wondered if there was in fact a German archivist / art restorer you based your character on and if that person was in fact a woman? It’s very much sent me down a rabbit hole, such as reading an interview of Hans Frank’s son Nikolas and his theory of where the missing Raphael may be! I would be keen to know about the character of Edith and very much looking forward to your next book which I can see you are currently editing.! Kindest, Amber McDougall
Hi Amber,
Thank you so much for reading THE NIGHT PORTRAIT. I’m so thrilled to hear you enjoyed the story, especially since you know so much already about the portrait and its historical context. Regarding Edith, she is not based on one particular person but rather on the many German art professionals who were conscripted into the effort to “safeguard” works of art on behalf of the Nazi regime. I was fascinated in reading about the variety of curators, art history professors, museum administrators, and other art professionals who were facing seemingly impossible situations and choices. Thanks again for your message! –Laura
Hi Laura,
First, I read The Night Portrait and thought it was the best book of all time as I am interested in WWII, art history, and the Monuments Men. Then, I read The Giant and thought it was excellent. Finally, I read The Painter’s Apprentice and loved it too. I love the way you weave fictional characters into the background of historical facts or vice versa. Your characters are so real and so human.
I was taking a survey art history course (from Ancient to Renaissance) when I read The Painter’s Apprentice. You helped my to understand the battiloro’s job, the use of punches, and the whole gilding process. I did a visual analysis of the Rucellai Madonna so this information was very useful to me.
Because of reading The Night Portrait, you inspired me to read the Monuments Men. I really enjoyed your online interview with Robert Edsel.
You are a born teacher and writer. One strength compliments the other. I have enjoyed your online book talks about The Night Portrait and look forward to more in the future..
My next book to read is The Gondola Maker.
Thanks a million for all of these wonderful novels. They are works of literary art.
Sue Lindsay
Hi Sue,
Awww, you’re so kind. Thank you so much! I’m thrilled you’ve enjoyed my work. Happy reading!
Laura
I’m recommending The Night Portrait to my Book Club for our 2021-2022 reading list. Loved the Book, and know my Book club members will love it too. We’ve read two of your books so far, and enjoyed very lively discussions of them. My question is regarding the title of the book. What does it mean? I’ve done extensive research and can find no answer. Did I miss something in the reading of the book? I know that will be one of the first questions I’ll be asked when leading the discussion. Would appreciate hearing from you. Love your books! Janice
Thank you so much for recommending THE NIGHT PORTRAIT for your book club, Janice! You can read a bit more about the title here (see Question #2): https://lauramorelli.com/10-questions-about-the-night-portrait/.
Make sure your book club friends sign up here for interviews, book club questions, and more behind-the-scenes content for THE NIGHT PORTRAIT: https://lauramorelli.com/nightportrait/.
Happy reading!
–Laura
Laura, I finally finished The Gondola Maker and LOVED it! I have a friend who is an actual Gondolier and many years ago, he took me to a boatyard. I loved this book!
Thank you so much for reading, Rosanne! 🙂
Hi Laura,
The other day, I wondered whether I should go to Cinque Terre or Amalfi Coast, or both. What are your thoughts? I will be visiting in the high season (~June.) I would like the one that is less crowded, more off-the-beaten-path, and more Italian (if you get what I mean) one.
Also, is there limoncello or limoncino in Cinque Terre?
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
You can find limoncello all over Italy, but it originated in the Capri / Amalfi area. To be honest, I would avoid BOTH Cinque Terre and the Amalfi Coast in the summer. They are gorgeous and SUPER crowded during that time. Fall and spring are the best times to enjoy these regions. Have fun! –Laura
Hi Laura,
I found your recent talk on historical writng for WFWA very interesting. You mentioned that you have published some of your novels in Italian. I’ve looked for the translations but have been unable to locate them on Amazon.
Could you please tell me how I can find them?
Thank you,
JoAnn Catania
Hi JoAnn! Thanks so much for joining the discussion with WFWA. Here is Il Ritratto Notturno: https://www.amazon.com/Il-ritratto-notturno/dp/8856675676. Other titles on the way…
Happy reading!