Nuns painted over risqué Rome frescoes; restorers reveal them 300 years later

For nearly three centuries, layers of plain paint and plaster hid a remarkable secret inside one of Rome’s long-neglected Renaissance villas. Now, restorers peeling back those layers are bringing colourful scenes of gods, goddesses, soldiers and mythological figures back into view, as per a report by Smithsonian Magazine.The rediscovered artwork is inside Villa Silvestri Rivaldi, a sprawling 16th-century residence just a short distance from Rome’s Colosseum. The villa was acquired by Italy’s Lazio region for €25 million in 2024, and an extensive restoration is now revealing frescoes that had been deliberately covered after the property passed into the hands of a religious institution.The murals include nude and semi-nude figures from non-Christian mythology, which reportedly offended the nuns who occupied the villa from the 17th century. The paintings were subsequently plastered over, leaving the Renaissance artwork hidden for around 300 years.