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.
Valentinetti, 83, denied the claims. “The restored face is the one that was painted 25 years ago,” he said, in remarks reported by news agency AGI.
“Who says it resembles Meloni?”
Opposition parties were quick to urge an investigation. Irene Manzi of the Democratic Party called the situation “unacceptable” while the Five Star Movement said art must not become “a tool for propaganda”, whether or not it depicted Meloni.