ROME — Call it divine intervention, or maybe just a hasty fix-it job to put an end to days of speculation and scandal. The end result is that the Angel Meloni is no more.
A painting of a cherub with a face bearing a remarkable resemblance to Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni attracted large crowds to the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina, one of the oldest basilicas in Rome. That angel's face was gone when the church opened its doors Wednesday: the cherub's body remains, but the face was erased with a sloppy slab of paint or plaster.
A painting inside the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina in Rome depicting a cherub that bore a striking resemblance to Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni shows signs of alteration Wednesday after the face was removed.
La Repubblica newspaper, which broke the story Saturday when it published the Meloni-esque angel on its front page, said the restorer responsible for making the Meloni cherub covered it up overnight at the request of church authorities.
Restorer Bruno Valentinetti admitted to the paper that he styled the angel on Meloni, but didn't say why.
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The diocese of Rome and the Italian Culture Ministry launched investigations after the image of the cherub was first published.
The original painting dated from 2000, so it wasn't a matter of damage to the church's historic patrimony. However, Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the pope's vicar for Rome, insisted that a political figure had no place in church art.
The ruckus gave the basilica newfound celebrity status; it was jammed Sunday and Monday with curiosity-seekers straining to photograph the angel in a side chapel up near the front altar, at times disrupting Mass.
People take pictures at a restored fresco to the memory of late Italy's King Umberto II depicting Angels inside the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina on Sunday, Feb. 1 in Rome.
In a statement Wednesday, the Culture Ministry set down the rules going forward: If the basilica plans to repaint the angel face, it needs prior authorization from the government which owns the church, the diocese of Rome which operates it and the culture ministry's special superintendency for Rome.
Lest there be any question, the Culture Ministry said that the request for permission must be "accompanied by a sketch of the image."
Valentinetti first made the cherub in 2000, when one of the basilica's front chapels was renovated to include a bust of the last king of Italy, Umberto II. Included in the decoration was a cherub holding a map of Italy, seemingly kneeling down before the king.
The cherub was restored after water leaks damaged the basilica starting in 2023, and emerged with the face of Meloni.
A detail of a restored chapel with Angels depicted on a fresco to the memory of late Italy's King Umberto II is seen inside the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina on Sunday, Feb. 1 in Rome.
The parish priest, the Rev. Daniele Micheletti, acknowledged the resemblance to Meloni but dismissed the significance, noting plenty of artists depicted real life people in their works.
Caravaggio is said to have modeled the Virgin Mary on a prostitute in one of his works; Michelangelo painted himself as St. Bartholomew in the Sistine Chapel’s “The Last Judgement.”
“The priest is not responsible for the decorations in the sense that the owner is someone else,” Micheletti told The Associated Press on Monday in his office, as his phone rang constantly. “So, what do they want from me? I did not do the painting.”
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni holds her annual start-of-the-year press conference in the press room at the Lower Chamber on Friday, Jan. 9 in Rome.
The investigations that were launched were to identify how the original 2000 cherub looked, with the aim of restoring the painting to that image. The faceless cherub seen Wednesday appeared a temporary fix to erase Meloni's likeness from the work.
The Italian premier made light of the whole thing. "No, I definitely don't look like an angel," Meloni wrote on social media over the weekend with a laughing/crying emoji alongside a photo of the work.
