Church angel ‘restored to look like Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’

The culture ministry has launched an investigation into the matter

An angel in a church in central Rome has been restored to look like Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a national newspaper has reported.

The allegation has prompted a culture ministry investigation.

Ms Meloni, meanwhile, is laughing off the affair.

La Repubblica daily first highlighted the alteration on its front page, saying that one of two angels in a chapel at the Basilica of St Lawrence in Lucina now bore the likeness of the 49-year-old conservative, who is Italy's first female prime minister.

The article featured before-and-after images, noting that the angel had previously appeared as a “generic cherub”.

The culture ministry said that it had instructed Rome's chief art heritage official to conduct an immediate inspection of the restored painting, ahead of determining further steps.

The restored angel fresco inside the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina (REUTERS)

The opposition Five Star Movement complained: “We cannot allow art and culture to risk becoming a tool for propaganda or anything else, regardless of whether the face depicted is that of the prime minister.”

The parish priest, Daniele Micheletti, told the ANSA news agency that the decorations in the chapel had recently been touched up following water damage.

The originals dated only to 2000, so were not under any heritage protection.

The restoration was carried out by the same artist who created the original painting, Bruno Valentinetti.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has laughed off the comparison (AP)

He disputed the suggestion he had altered the image, telling reporters: “I restored what was there before... 25 years ago.”

As for Ms Meloni, she posted a picture of the disputed painting on Instagram, with the caption “No, I definitely don't look like an angel”, with a laughing emoji.

Ms Meloni, who leads the most right-wing government in Italy since the Second World War, is a Roman Catholic and has publicly aligned herself with traditional Christian values.

She frequently uses the motto "Dio, patria, famiglia" (God, fatherland, family).