I’m no angel, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni says, amid church fresco row
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A restored chapel fresco in Rome's San Lorenzo in Lucina basilica resembles Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
PHOTOS: AFP, REUTERS
- Italian media questioned if a fresco cherub in Rome resembles Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
- Restorer Bruno Ventinetti denied modelling the cherub after Meloni, saying he restored the original fresco.
- Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli ordered an inspection after complaints, despite Meloni's amusement.
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ROME - Italy’s prime minister, Ms Giorgia Meloni, joked on Jan 31 she does not look like an angel, after a row blew up in the media over a restored fresco in a Rome church.
Some of Italy’s press have been asking whether the premier served as inspiration for a celestial being painted in a chapel in the San Lorenzo in Lucina basilica, located a few metres from the main building of the Italian government.
The newspaper La Repubblica noted that, following recent renovations, one of the painted angels bears a resemblance to the blonde, diminutive leader.
The winged figure is seen holding a parchment and standing next to a bust of Italy’s last king, Umberto II, who reigned for just a month before being deposed in 1946.
The Italian restorer who worked on the painting, Mr Bruno Ventinetti, denied to the press that he sought to immortalise Ms Meloni, insisting that he only brought back the image of the original fresco.
The angel resembling Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is in a Rome church that sits a few metres from the main building of the Italian government.
PHOTO: AFP
Ms Meloni herself appeared amused by the controversy, posting an image of the restored fresco on Instagram with the comment: “No, decidedly I do not resemble an angel.”
But, after several opposition politicians complained, Italy’s culture minister, Mr Alessandro Giuli, said he had ordered an inspection of the fresco on Jan 31.
The expert look-over will “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”, he said in a statement. AFP
The exterior of Rome’s Church of San Lorenzo in Lucina.
PHOTO: EPA
