Likeness of restored angel to Giorgia Meloni triggers investigations in Rome

Cherub at landmark church causes ecclesiastical and political uproar with alleged resemblance to Italian PM

Italy's culture minister and the diocese of Rome have launched investigations after claims were made that an angel in a landmark church in Rome was restored in the likeness of the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.

The resemblance was first flagged by the newspaper La Repubblica, who noted that one of the two angels flanking a marble bust of Italy's last king in the Basilica of St Lawrence in Lucina now had a familiar, astonishingly contemporary face".