A recently renovated church in Rome has sparked controversy after observers noticed that a restored angel closely resembles Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Italian media have asked whether Meloni, leader of the right-wing Brothers of Italy party, inspired restorer Bruno Valentinetti, who has reportedly had ties to right-wing politics. The winged figure was repainted in a chapel of the San Lorenzo in Lucina basilica, holding a parchment and standing beside a bust of Italy’s last king, Umberto II, who was deposed when Italy became a republic in 1946.
Meloni appeared to take the resemblance in good humor. “No, decidedly I do not resemble an angel,” she wrote on Instagram, adding a laughing emoji.
Valentinetti has denied deliberately immortalizing Meloni, saying he only restored the original fresco. “There is indeed a certain resemblance,” the basilica’s priest, Daniele Micheletti, told ANSA. “But you would have to ask the restorer why he did it that way. I don’t know.”
On Saturday, Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli ordered an inspection of the fresco to “determine the nature of the works carried out on the updated painting inside one of the chapels of San Lorenzo in Lucina and decide what further steps might be taken.”
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko