For some reason I have read several books about art in World War II Italy. n The Keeper of Lost Art, author Laura Morelli writes about the hiding of art at risk during the bombing of several locations in Italy. And of course, German occupiers were notable for their efforts to steal art. The Keeper of Lost Art focuses on the need by the Uffizi Gallery in Florence to hide art in county villas, where the hope was the art would be safe from bombing and Germany. This villa at the center of The Keeper of Lost Art is also a refuge for people fleeing different parts of Italy. The gardens are plentiful and there is food to feed refugees. The family who lives in the villa are caretakers, who guard people in their wine cellar, including a wounded British flyer. And of course, they also guard the art. The most interesting aspect of The Keeper of Lost Art is the love for the art, both by the villa's caretaker and also his niece Stella, and her friend Sandro. The descriptions of the art are wonderfully written. I have been to the Uffizi Gallery in Florence and have seen this art. It is breathtaking.

The Keeper of Lost Art is interesting and the descriptions of art are beautifully descriptive. The Keeper of Lost Art is interesting but not compelling. The characters are secondary to the art. I loved the discussion of how important art is to teach history and to inspire those who gaze upon it. This art changes lives. Morelli explains how gazing at the art is to gaze upon beauty and develop empathy and caring for the people who live there.

Thank you to William Morrow publishers and to NetGalley for providing this ARC to read and review. The comments above are my honest thoughts about this novel. For people who know little about the hiding of art during World War II, this novel is especially educational. Look up the art mentioned by name.

4 stars

When I first saw the title, The Keeper of Lost Art, I thought it would be interesting to see how someone was saving art from Nazi Distruction. The story is so much more. The story of how the painting were brought to Villa Saita Lucia was very interesting, but the story is so much more. It is a very emotional, heartbreaking story.

To learn of how British citizens had to flee Tuscany for thier own safety and leave everything behind was a surprise. To realize that Italy took possession of such properties owned by enemies of the state was a bit of shock. No compensation. No concerns. I must admit I was clueless about how things were run. I did not expect curators to use them as a storage facility. I can't wait to delve deeper into the idea to see if it was true and how successful it was.

The story showed me how things could have been for the people. The workers at the Villa now had to not only feed themselves, but whatever army was in control at the moment. They had to accept the treatment of themselves and the property. I was amazing how the were able to protect the painting but not chairs and beds. I was shocked by how many different armies passed through.

I didn't think about all of Refugees stopping for assistance. How could they be turned away? A bigger question was how would the be fed and housed. Their conditions and attempts at survival had me in tears. My respect for those that helped during the war grew and grew with each thing I learned. If not for the kindness of others; things would have been so much worse.

I want to thank the author for opening my eyes. I need, we all need, to learn everything we can about the past or it will become our future. All the tears that flowed will never wash away what happened in the past. I don't want to cry them in the future.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

The Keeper of Lost Art by Laura Morelli

Most readers have probably heard of the Monuments Men and Women who rounded up thousands of paintings and irreplaceable artwork hidden from destruction and theft from the Nazis in WWII. This is a fictional account of a family in Italy who became custodians of such treasures and what they endured during the war.

Young Stella is sent by her mother to the countryside to be with relatives she didn’t know. Refugees also ended up staying in the cellar of her aunt and uncle’s house. This is where she meets Sandro, a young artist who is loosing his eyesight.

It’s a nice story young readers would enjoy and learn from and the happy ending is a plus. Four stars.

I have always been fascinated by stories about the looting and destruction of art during war. Conquering nations understand that, as the author of The Keeper of Lost Art explains, homes, buildings and other trappings of everyday life can be rebuilt. But looting or harming art strikes deep at the heart of a nation’s culture and cannot easily be replaced. This book, based on a true story, tells the story of a family in the Tuscan countryside near Florence, Italy, who shelter both refugees and art treasures from the Uffizi Gallery during the WWII. As told by the 14-year-old Stella, we hear about the family’s struggles, privations and bravery as they hide refugees from German soldiers who have commandeered the villa. All the while, Stella and her friend Sandro, a budding artist, meet secretly in the room where the Uffizi paintings are hidden. Sandro teaches Stella about drawing as she teaches him to read.

Each chapter begins with fictional quotes from Botticelli and Wallace Foster, the character in the book who is a Monuments Man, part of the British and American team that rescued looted art after World War II. The Botticelli "quotes" (in reality, Botticelli left no writings to explain his work) paint a portrait (as it were) of an artist struggling through the process of creation. The Foster quotes speak of the importance of art and the reasons for saving it. The most significant portion of the book for me occurs when a conservator from the Uffizi arrives at the villa, and talks passionately about the meaning and importance of art. These devices, written as they were by an author who is not only well educated in art history, but a true lover of art, help the reader understand how art transforms individuals, communities and nations. Readers who come to this book to read a story about how ordinary people coped with a life under war will also get a lesson I hope they don't neglect.

We live in strange times, and historians are warning us to be aware of what’s happening and its relation to the past. Books like this help us understand. Many thanks to William Morris and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for this ARC. Stella has been sent from her home in Turino to her aunt and uncle's Tuscan villa in the midst of the war. Her uncle is the driver and caretaker of this villa under an Englishman who fled to Switzerland. Now living in the Villa, they become a home to several people fleeing other cities looking for shelter from the war. Stella, now settled, greets a curator from Florence who is looking for a safe place to store priceless works of art from the Germans. Sandro, a gifted artist and also the same age of Stella, seeks refuge in this locked room so he may be with the art. The Germans arrive, then the Australians and finally the Americans but the Italians have no idea who to trust. I enjoyed this book. It is based on a true story of a villa in the far reaches of Tuscany, a hard working family and the ability to save Italians treasures. #TheKeeperofLostArt #LauraMorelli #WilliamMorrow #April2025

I have been to Italy many times over the years, most recently spending 10 days just in Tuscany, so when I saw this book on NetGalley, I immediately requested it. I knew a little about the brave Italians who safeguarded priceless works of art, mostly from the Uffizi Museum in Florence, but I had not idea how expansive and involved that endeavor was. Laura Morelli crafts an interesting story with lots of history, and I enjoyed the story, except for some parts in the second half of the novel that seemed more like filler than adding more to the narrative.

I especially enjoyed the characters -- especially Stella and Sandro. Stella was sent to live with relatives in Tuscany because her mother thought she would be safer there, as WWII got more dangerous with the Germans present all over Italy. Little did Stella know the drama and danger would be in the villa where she made her new home!

I also enjoyed learning more about the masterpieces kept in the villa, most notably, Botticelli's beautiful Primavera.

I highly recommend this novel to fans of WWII, Italy, and Italian art.

Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins and the author for the opportunity to read and review this eARC.

Stella’s mother sent her to live with her aunt and uncle so she would be safe from the bombings.

It wasn’t a pleasant place to be. Her aunt really didn’t like her and she didn’t know why.

A lot of interesting things were happening while she was there. The most interesting thing was that they were given the job of hiding valuable paintings in their villa, but then Zio Tino decides he is going to allow refugees stay in the villa.

Will the paintings be safe?

Find out how everything works out and how Stella grows in this beautifully written, well-researched, visit to Italy as we learn how citizens survived and how they loyally saved the art in their care.

Fans of art history will fall in love with the storyline and hearing the names of artists and paintings.

You will have to brush up on your Italian, but will enjoy being there. 4/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I received this advance copy of The Cemetery Spot from NetGalley with the expectation by them that I would provide my honest review.

I loved this book! I am truly a fan of historical fiction, and I enjoy stories that present a side not usually explored. In this case, Italian art masterpieces moved from the Uffizi and other museums to protect them from the invading German armies in World War II. But of course, that also presented dangers to the protectors of the art. That is the crux of the story - the lives lived with the most precious of cultural treasurers hidden under their roof and the most dangerous of enemies all around.

The story is beautifully told, with incredibly rich descriptions. With some books, it seems the authors will empty their thesauruses out trying to find yet another descriptive turn of phrase for something. This author made it seem effortless. I could see in my mind's eye the olive groves, the cypresses, the fields of red poppies, the rooms of the villa, and the view from the villa's tower. All extremely well done.

The author did a very nice job leading into each chapter with quotes from Botticelli, as the creator of the art, and Captain Foster as the ultimate officer in charge of returning the works to Florence. The feelings of one as the producer and the other as the recipient. I enjoyed reading those statements that mirrored each other hundreds of years apart.

The story revolves around Stella, a young girl at the start whose mother sends her from their home in an Italian city to live in the country with her mother's brother and wife and their children. Believing she'd be safer there. There are undercurrents at the home that take Stella a while to understand, but she ultimately does. The aunt that seems to not want her there at first ends up being her best mentor and role model, and protector. While there, Stella befriends Sandro, a boy just older than her that, for all intents and purposes, believes himself to be orphaned. His brothers are fighting in the war, and he has no one else to care for him. He arrives at the villa with many other refugees seeking shelter in the large wine cellar. Stella and Sandro teach each other when school is stopped for the fighting - Stella helps Sandro with his reading and Sandro helps Stella learn to draw. Sandro is one of the few people that is allowed to see the Treasure Room, as Stella calls it, and he wastes no time mimicking the great works.

My only critique of the story that isn't positive is that I felt a little editing could have been done in the middle. I guess like in war, there was a repetition to the days and the middle section felt a little repetitive as well, without advancing the story much.

The ending was bittersweet, in several of the storylines, but they felt true to the story. It was a telling of real life, not a fairy tale, so we didn't get the fairy tale ending that I'm sure some readers would expect.

Overall, a really enjoyable story and I highly recommend it to those who enjoy this genre.

In this coming-of-age historical fiction novel, tween protagonist Stella moves to the Tuscan countryside during WWII where her extended family resides. The family is tasked with hiding masterpieces from the Uffizi. I appreciated this story’s setting in the Italian countryside for a different perspective as well as the quotes by Botticelli and Captain Wallace at the beginning of each chapter for more context about the art. The writing was clear, the plot kept me entertained, I enjoyed the character development, and the story moved at a good pace. I would have liked learning more about Uncle Tino or the aunts’ perspectives, but that is for another book. I also appreciated the explanation of art’s crucial role in forming cultural identity and why losing art in war is particularly devastating. I recommend this especially to tweens/teens learning about WWII.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I would like to thank Net Galley and William Morrow for the ability to read this book as an ARC. I really enjoyed this book. I read a lot of Historical Fiction and read much that is based in World War2. I found this to be a interesting look at the war and the effects of the people in Tuscany. It also involves the paintings that were taken from the Uffizi and other galleries, and hidden in farmhouses, to protect them . The group of soldiers, now known as the "Monuments Men, "are also involved late in the story. Basically, however, it is about people, the Italians who struggle to keep their ifes sane and whole in the midst of chaos. It focuses on 2 pre teens- Stella, who comes to stay with her Aunt and Uncle, and Sandro, who is an orphan and has been left with Stella's family and and increasing number of refugees. It is about war, and love and life and beauty , along with sadness, and betrayal. If you are a fan of historical fiction, this is for you.

Stella is sent to Tuscany with aunts and uncles to keep her safe from the bombing in Torino. The villa becomes a place where great works of art from Florence will be hidden to keep them safe. It also becomes a place where refugees, and even downed airmen, find a place to stay. But then comes the German paratroopers and the tank crews. The people in the villa just want to survive and keep the art safe.
The Keeper of the Lost Art, by Laura Morelli, takes the reader along on these years of struggle. You feel like you get to know Stella, her friend Sandro, her aunts, uncles, cousins, and others. The story is a bit tedious. The main point of the book was the importance of preserving and understanding the art done by generations past. It was evident the author was an art history teacher. I was able to read ARC on #Netgalley.

I completely devoured this novel. A lover of art history and historical fiction, I had known of the author Laura Morelli, but previously, had never read any of her books. This book was my introduction to the author and I was impressed and touched by how much heart and soul she created in these characters. It was a beautifully written book, with an inspirational message that even among the worst of humanity we must fight for each other and our cultural heritage. Without these brave people who put their lives at risk to preserve these art works, the world would have lost great art.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a fascinating depiction of life I. Italy during WW2 through the eyes of a young girl and the efforts to save the important artwork from the Uffizi Gallery.

I've read quite a few books about WWII, but this one will definitely go into my favorites of this war. The story was slower than most as it mostly takes place inside of one villa, but the depth of character growth, meaning of family, and preserving what is important brought this book to life for me. The book did start out a little slow, and most of the development is in the second half, but it was definitely worth the read.
This book also showed an aspect of the war different than a lot of other books. It talked about how they survived in the Italian countryside and adding dirt to their bread to make it last longer. But also the heritage behind the art of their country.

This was okay but not great. I've read countless WW2 books and this seemed to have a new and interesting premise, but it really lacked in its delivery. The first 2 years were somehow both too long and too brief, and the next year felt endless and filled with detail that was not all necessary, and yet could have also used more description? It just never read right to me. It almost used Stella being 12 as a crutch to not need to delve too far into the heavier themes, when we all know that the kids had to grow up much too fast during the war. Ultimately, the art focus seemed to be just the fact that the author must LOVE Primavera and not so much about the family preserving art in general.

I enjoy a good historical fiction and this book was such a captivating story about Stella’s experience in the Tuscan countryside as she is sent away by her mother during World War II. We get to see her journey of hope and beauty that she finds during this devastating time through the relationships she forms with those helping her see the beauty in art. The book had heartbreaking and heartwarming moments that made it a truly special read.

Beautiful story! I love to read novels based during world war 2. Such a moving tale during such a dark time in history! I need to get back to Italy to appreciate the art!

This was an exquisitely rendered coming-of-age-in-wartime story, highlighting the role of art in one's culture and soul, and finding beauty and compassion when much about you is bleak. Author Laura Morelli, a fine writer and respected art historian, delivered a beautiful and heartfelt story drawing upon the historic record of Italy in World War II. The research which went into the story is vast. Her descriptions of the featured art pieces were grand, rich and lovely. Her passion for art and its safekeeping is absolutely apparent. For readers of historical fiction with an interest in fine art and its own history, I commend this book to you.

I am grateful to author Laura Morrelli and publisher William Morrow for having provided a complimentary copy of this book. Their generosity, however, has not influenced this review - the words of which are mine alone.


Publisher:‎ William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication Date:‎ April 22, 2025
Number of Pages: ‎352
ISBN:‎ 978-0063206014

3.5 stars. I love WWII historical fiction. This was a good story and I appreciate the author telling this story. For me, this story dragged on a bit. I'll be the first to admit that art isn't my thing so that is probably why. I do appreciate the efforts to preserve it and liked reading about those efforts.

A villa outside a small village in Tuscany becomes a repository for valuable art during WWII while at the same time sheltering vast numbers of displaced persons and soldiers from around the world. This is the story of the family who cares for it all