Angelic face of Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni wiped from church fresco

Now you see her, now you don't.

The face of Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni that was painted on a cherub in a church in Rome has been removed following outrage and an investigation by the country's cultural ministry.

Meloni's likeness appeared on the body of an angel following restoration works at the Chapel of the Holy Souls of Purgatory in the Basilica of St. Lawrence in Lucina, in central Rome.

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Although completed late last year, the issue came to light at the weekend when before and after photos posted on social media showed that the original angel's face had been replaced with an image that looked like the prime minister.

At first the volunteer restorer, Bruno Valentinetti, denied the claims, saying that he'd copied the original images from drawings.

But on Wednesday, he told La Repubblica newspaper that it was indeed the prime minister. However, he insisted that it was similar to the original artwork, the paper reported.

Valentinetti was tasked with smudging out his work, which has left a ghost-like white blob on the angel's body.

"I covered it up because the Vatican told me to," he told La Repubblica.

The Vatican has not weighed in publicly on the controversy.

The culture ministry, which ordered an investigation earlier this week, put out a statement on Wednesday about the removal of the image, saying that works in churches in Rome had to be pre-approved with drawings for proposed changes.

"In light of the removal of the face from the decoration in the chapel of the crucifix of San Lorenzo in Lucina, in agreement with the Minister of Culture, Alessandro Giuli, the Special Superintendent of Rome, Daniela Porro, has informed the rector of the Basilica that any restoration work requires a request for authorisation from the Ministry of the Interior's Fund for Places of Worship, which owns the property, the Vicariate, and the Special Superintendency of Rome, attaching a sketch of the image," the ministry wrote in a statement posted on its website.

Hundreds of visitors have visited the chapel in recent days to take photos of the image, the parish priest Father Daniele Micheletti said.

"I've always said that if it had created divisions, I would have had it removed," he told Sky Italia.

"From a regulatory standpoint, the painting could have remained there for a hundred years, but it has created too many divisions in the church."

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