(Picture: AFP or licensors)
A controversial mural of an angel with a face just like Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has been erased after a criticism from the Vatican.
The fresco within the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome, was spotted with the striking resemblance, sparking fears the church may very well be used as a propaganda tool for the right-wing leader.
After lots of of locals and tourists flooded into the church to see the unholy lookalikey the priest ordered it to be painted over.
When the church opened on Wednesday, the Meloni-like face had been crudely scrubbed out, leaving the angel headless.
‘I all the time said that if (the Meloni image) proved divisive we’d remove it,’ the church priest Daniele Micheletti told Italian news agency ANSA.
‘There was a procession of those that got here to see it as an alternative of listening to Mass or praying. It wasn’t acceptable.’
The amateur artist who restored the painting, Bruno Valentinetti, was quoted by Repubblica as saying he had been asked to erase it by the Vatican.
The artwork portrays Umberto II, who reigned as Italy’s final king for just 34 days, and is supposed to feature two cherub-like angels watching over him.
The newspaper La Repubblica, who first reported on the angel, said: ‘Before the restoration, there was a generic cherub. Today, it’s the face of essentially the most powerful woman within the country.’
The volunteer restorer who freshened up the fresco denied depicting Meloni and said he was just restoring ‘what was there 25 years ago’.
Bruno Valentinetti said: ‘They asked me to repair it and I did. I worked on it for 2 years and finished the work a 12 months ago.’
He stressed ‘it’s not Meloni’ and claimed he merely ‘traced’ the outline of ‘original design’ and ‘put the color back in’.
Father Micheletti said the restoration was needed attributable to water damage, and that it dated back to 2000 so was not under heritage protection.
One opposition lawmaker, Irene Manzi, called the touch-up ‘unacceptable’.
The Five Star Movement party said: ‘We cannot allow art and culture to risk becoming a tool for propaganda or anything, no matter whether the face depicted is that of the prime minister.’
Meloni herself has laughed off the controversy, posting an image of the fresco on Instagram and commenting: ‘No, I’m definitely not like an angel.’
Italy’s authorities for safeguarding cultural heritage, the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio, said they can be inspecting the restoration.
They added: ‘We are going to compare it with archive materials to find out not a lot who the restoration resembles, but whether any changes have been made, since the restorer would have needed to follow the unique lines.’
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