Church and government officials are investigating after claims the face of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had been painted on an angel during the restoration of a fresco in Rome.
Italy's culture ministry 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".
