Naked Monica Bellucci with newborn on mag cover

Stunningly beautiful Monica Belluci, at 46, has bared all for the cover of Italian Vanity Fair, cuddling her newborn in the photo shoot.

The photo shoot with five month old Leonie is to promote a new book of her portraits and she does not have a wrinkle or line despite the late nights and early mornings that accompany a newborn baby.

In the interview, she says some of the photographs conceal inner sadness but now she feels 'in a state of grace, like a ripe pear'.

'Being photographed is a way of getting to know yourself. And I'm dying to know who I am, for better or worse,' the Daily Mail quoted her as saying.

Despite being a new mum, Monica has found time to make an advert for Dolce & Gabbana and Martini, as well as two films, including one with Robert De Niro, which she shot recently in Rome.

The book of her photographs carries her name as the title and is a collection of images from the last twenty years by Bruce Weber, Peter Lindbergh and Ellen von Unwerth.