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Posted on 02/03/2026 3:38:30 PM PST by aquila48
Church and government officials in Italy have launched an investigation into claims that the face of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was painted on an angel during the restoration of a fresco in Rome.
Italy's culture ministry has sent officers to inspect the artwork in a chapel of the Basilica of St Lawrence in Lucina, while the Diocese of Rome expressed its "disappointment" and said it would determine who had been responsible.
The artist, Bruno Valentinetti, said he had simply restored the fresco he painted in 2000 and denied modelling the angel after the prime minister.
Meloni responded in a post on Instagram saying she was "definitely not like an angel", accompanied by a laughing emoji.
The apparent likeness was first reported on Saturday by Italian newspaper La Repubblica, which ran before-and-after pictures of the fresco and claimed the angel holding a map of Italy had previously looked like a "generic cherub".
The parish priest said the paintings had simply been touched up following recent water damage - but said he did not "understand the fuss" in any case.
"Painters used to put all sorts of things in frescoes," Monsignor Daniele Micheletti said.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
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Ha! Love it.
doppelganger
Two angels!
Sort of like her, but not exactly like her.
PM Meloni has a distinctive smile. Her eyes smile too.
If that had been captured, eyebrows would certainly have been raised. There will always be a suspicion of resemblance.
Similar to that gigantic iron statue of Fat, Angry Black Girl’ that was positioned on display in New York last year.
It was speculated to have been modeled after Letitia James.
The figure on display was the draped version.
Both women are attractive.
The fresco has a serious case of RBF.
Artistic license.
Similar. Very pretty sculpture.
(In Scripture, though, angels are not female.)
I can see it but the angel’s face is fairly generic
The second one is no woman.
Don’t they have an original pic to compare it with?
The chins are different.
The tip of Meloni’s nose is shorter and more rounded. Her chin is also softer and less defined. Very similar, but different.
Looks pretty heavy handed to me overall, based on those three photos, irregardless of “likeness issues”.
The angel is looking to the side in a profile on the original, where it now has the right eye visible.
I love it her.
The way I understand it, DNA is inherited from ancestors.
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