A recently renovated church in the Italian capital, Rome, has stirred controversy as many noticed that one of the restored angels bore a striking resemblance to the country's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Italy's press has posed the question of whether Meloni, of the radical right-wing Brothers of Italy Party, inspired the restorer, Bruno Valentinetti, who reportedly has had ties to the Italian right-wing politics.

The winged figure is painted in a chapel in the San Lorenzo in Lucina basilica holding a parchment and standing next to a bust of Italy's last king, Umberto II, who was deposed as Italy voted to become a republic in 1946 following World War II.

What did Meloni say about her angel lookalike?

The Italian prime minister seemed to take the incident with a sense of humor. "No, decidedly I do not resemble an angel," she wrote on Instagram, using a laughing emoji.

Valentinetti, the restorer, denied to the press that he intended to immortalize Meloni. He said he only restored the image of the original fresco.

"There is indeed a certain resemblance," the priest of the basilica, Daniele Micheletti, told Italy's ANSA news agency. "But you would have to ask the restorer why he did it that way. I don't know."

On Saturday, Italy's Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said he had ordered an inspection of the fresco.

He said in a statement the inspection aims to "determine the nature of the works carried out on the updated painting inside one of the chapels of San Lorenzo in Lucina and decide what further steps might be taken."

Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko