By Barbie Latza Nadeau, NCS
Rome, Italy (NCS) — Now you see her, now you don’t.
The face of Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni that was painted on a cherub in a church in Rome has been eliminated following outrage and an investigation by the nation’s cultural ministry.
Meloni’s likeness appeared on the physique of an angel following restoration works on the Chapel of the Holy Souls of Purgatory within the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina, in central Rome.
Although accomplished late final 12 months, the difficulty got here to gentle on the weekend when earlier than and after photographs posted on social media confirmed that the unique angel’s face had been changed with a picture that appeared just like the prime minister.
At first the volunteer restorer, Bruno Valentinetti, denied the claims, saying that he’d copied the unique photographs from drawings.
But on Wednesday, he told La Repubblica newspaper that it was certainly the prime minister. However, he insisted that it was much like the unique art work, the paper reported.
Valentinetti was tasked with smudging out his work, which has left a ghost-like white blob on the angel’s physique.
“I covered it up because the Vatican told me to,” he advised La Repubblica.
The Vatican has not weighed in publicly on the controversy.
The tradition ministry, which ordered an investigation earlier this week, put out an announcement on Wednesday concerning the elimination of the picture, saying that works in church buildings in Rome needed to be preapproved with drawings for proposed adjustments.
“In light of the removal of the face from the decoration in the chapel of the crucifix of San Lorenzo in Lucina, in agreement with the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, the Special Superintendent of Rome, Daniela Porro, has informed the rector of the Basilica that any restoration work requires a request for authorization from the Ministry of the Interior’s Fund for Places of Worship, which owns the property, the Vicariate, and the Special Superintendency of Rome, attaching a sketch of the image,” the ministry wrote in an announcement posted on its web site.
Hundreds of guests have visited the chapel in latest days to take photographs of the picture, the parish priest Father Daniele Micheletti mentioned.
“I’ve always said that if it had created divisions, I would have had it removed,” he advised Sky Italia.
“From a regulatory standpoint, the painting could have remained there for a hundred years, but it has created too many divisions in the church.”
The-NCS-Wire
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