An angel with the face of Giorgia Meloni? Mystery and controversy over a restoration in a church in Rome

The angel has the vote of the Prime Minister, Giorgia Melonthe. What raised the ‘case’ about the restoration of a fresco inside the ancient basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina in Rome was a press indiscretion, immediately taken up by the opposition, who asked for clarification. And it is the prime minister herself who intervenes, resorting to irony. In a post on social media Meloni attaches a photo of the painting and writes: “No, I definitely don’t look like an angel”, with the laughing face emoticon next to it.

But the opposition insists and asks for the intervention of the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli.The news bounces around the media and social media and the Vicariate, which says it is “in the dark about everything”, explains that clarification will be made.

The angel resembling the prime minister is found in a chapel which on one wall houses the bust of Umberto II of Savoy: he holds a cartouche with the Boot drawn and faces another angel who offers the crown to the sovereign in exile.

The Ministry of Culture is also moving on the case, and the Special Superintendent of Rome, Daniela Porro, gives “instruction to the technical officials of the Mic to carry out an inspection today to ascertain the nature of the intervention carried out on the contemporary painting contained in one of the chapels of San Lorenzo in Lucina and decide what to do”.

For the Democrats, who were the first to ask for an intervention from the minister, “what emerged is not acceptable. The hypothesis that a restoration intervention on a protected property could have produced an image attributable to a contemporary face”, recalls Irene think, “represents a potential and serious violation of the Cultural Heritage and Landscape Code, which prohibits arbitrary alterations, personalizations and interventions not strictly based on scientific and historical-artistic criteria. The Italian cultural heritage cannot be bent to improper readings nor transformed through operations that compromise its authenticity and historical value”.

“If everything were confirmed we would find ourselves faced with a giant and unacceptable example of personality cultlike we haven’t seen since the times of fascism”, he attacks Filiberto Zaratti of Avs. And the 5 stars insist: “In addition to an audit, it is necessary to ascertain the responsibilities and how the work was carried out. Art and culture cannot be allowed to risk becoming a propaganda tool”.

The Vicariate says it is “in the dark about everything” and does not exclude the launch of an investigation. “The modification of the face of the cherub was an initiative of the decorator not communicated to the competent bodies“, underlines the Vicariate of Rome, which “is committed to examining the issue in depth with the parish priest Monsignor Daniele Micheletti and to evaluating possible initiatives”. The author of the restoration, the 83-year-old sacristan and decorator Bruno Valentinettidefends himself: “They are all inventions. The restored face is the one that was painted 25 years ago. Who says it looks like Meloni?”.