Famous fresco back after 15-year restoration

ONE of Italy's most famous frescos is being unveiled tomorrow at the end of a laborious 15-year restoration.

Piero della Francesca's Legend Of The True Cross, painted between 1452 and 1465, in the church of San Francesco in Arezzo, is a cornerstone of Italian Renaissance art.

Before the scaffolding went up in 1991, after six years of scientific tests and studies, Piero's masterpiece attracted tens of thousands of visitors to the small Tuscan town.

Head restorer Anna Maria Maetzke explains that the restoration took so long because "every step of the way we had to stop, and carry out more tests, and wait for the results". But she believes that the end result more than justifies the wait. "We have got back Piero's sky," she said.

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