rome, italy
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Now I can see her, now I can’t see her.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s face on an angel in a church in Rome has been removed following outrage and an investigation by the country’s culture ministry.
Restoration work was carried out in the Chapel of the Holy Spirit in Purgatory in the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina, central Rome, and Meloni’s likeness appeared in the body of an angel.
It was completed late last year, but problems were discovered over the weekend when before and after photos posted on social media revealed that the original angel’s face had been replaced with an image resembling that of the Prime Minister.
Initially, volunteer conservator Bruno Valentinetti denied the claims, saying he had copied the original images from drawings.
But on Wednesday, he told La Repubblica newspaper that it was indeed the prime minister. However, he claimed it resembled the original artwork, the newspaper reported.
Valentinetti was tasked with desecrating his work, which left a ghostly white mass on the angel’s body.
“The Vatican told me to cover it up, so I covered it up,” he told La Repubblica newspaper.
The Vatican has not publicly considered the controversy.
The Culture Ministry, which ordered the investigation earlier this week, issued a statement on Wednesday about the image’s removal, saying the work on the church in Rome requires prior approval of the drawings for any proposed changes.
“In view of the removal of the face from the decoration of the Chapel of the Cross of San Lorenzo in Lucina, in agreement with Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli, the Special Superintendent of Rome, Daniela Polo, has informed the Rector of the Basilica that any restoration work requires an application for permission from the House of Worship Fund, the Agency and the Special Superintendent of the Ministry of the Interior, which owns the site,” the ministry said in a statement posted on its website. “A sketch of the Roman statue has been attached.”
Parish priest Father Daniele Micheletti said hundreds of visitors had come to the chapel in recent days to take photos of the statue.
“I have always said that if it was divisive, I would have removed it,” he told Sky Italia.
“From a regulatory standpoint, this painting could have remained there for 100 years, but it created too much division within the church.”
