An angel with the face of the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, It has appeared after the restoration of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina, in the center of Rome. In a few minutes, criticism has multiplied both on social networks and in the Italian press. The Government opposition has already asked for explanations.
As confirmed by the Italian newspaper La Republicaabove the marble bust of King Humbert II of Savoy, there are frescoes of two angels and one of them appeared in recent days with a new face that resembles that of Meloni, very different from the winged figure that existed before holding a scroll, in front of another angel offering the crown to the sovereign.
The restoration was carried out by Bruno Valentinetti, a man who defines himself as a sacristan and decorator and who is “a volunteer who is in the church every morning from 8 to 12”, whose name has been engraved in an inscription in Latin: “Instauratum et exornatum, Bruno Valentinetti d. C. MMXXV”, indicates the newspaper.
Valentinetti carried out the decoration of that same chapel in 2002 and The Republic He assures, after consulting a restaurateur who says she has collaborated with him, that he is also the author of some “decorations for the residence in the town of Macherio”.
For his part, and in statements to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Monsignor Daniele Micheletti, rector of the Basilica pantheon, assures that “I went to see the restoration this morning.” “I had asked to restore the chapel exactly as it was [el restaurador]. Now I don’t know what the features of a face are if they really are Meloni’s, there was the angel, and it was that way.”
For the opposition it is “unacceptable”
The opposition Democratic Party called it “unacceptable” that Meloni’s face appeared in the restoration, in a note from its spokesperson in the culture commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Irene Manz. “We ask that the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli“immediately activate the superintendence of Rome in relation to the news published about the restoration of the basilica,” he said on his social networks.
“The hypothesis that a restoration intervention in a protected property may have produced an image attributable to a contemporary face represents a potential and serious violation of the Code of Cultural and Landscape Assetswhich prohibits arbitrary alterations, customizations and interventions that are not strictly based on scientific and artistic-historical criteria,” Manz added.
Manz also insists that “regardless of whether it is the face of Giorgia Meloni, we consider an immediate intervention by the Superintendency to be essential, in order to clarify the facts, verify the regularity of the interventions carried out and order the restoration.”
San Lorenzo in Lucina is the center of Roman politics, since it is close to the Chamber of Deputies and there was the historic office of Giulio Andreotti, and there was also the headquarters of Forza Italia.
