Meloni's fresco in the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina removed. The parish priest: 'They used to come here for that'
The Special Superintendency of Rome activated archive research to locate the documentation of the original fresco
Two reasons led to the removal of the painting commemorating Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni inside the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Lucina, Rome. The painting was removed
"They came for that, not for mass"
The first was that it was "divisive"; the second, however, was the consequence of the news: "There was a procession of people who came to see it not to hear Mass or pray... it was not possible". This was said by the parish priest, Monsignor Daniele Micheletti.
The Vatican's order to the restorer
It would have been the Vatican itself that asked Bruno Valentinetti - author (in 200o) and restorer (in 2025) of the work - to proceed to obscure the angel's face. A face that, according to Valentinetti, 'was not the premier'. Yet, he told La Repubblica, the Curia wanted it that way and I cancelled it'.
How to replace it?
Already since Saturday, when the news went viral in a matter of hours, the Special Superintendency of Rome has activated archive searches to locate the documentation of the original fresco in the Chapel of the Crucifix in San Lorenzo in Lucina created in 2000. Research that should be followed by the restoration of the original fresco.
