Michelangelo, one of the greatest painters and sculptors of the Renaissance, ordered his students to hide many of his works in a secret room so that they would be preserved forever, an Italian scholar claims.

According to the great art historian Giorgio Vasari, who was a contemporary of Michelangelo, the artist himself burned many of his works before his death in Rome in 1564.

However, researcher Valentina Salerno says she has discovered previously unpublished documents that reveal that the great master hid some of them. "One of the three documents I found in the archives speaks of a room" whose care was entrusted to Michelangelo's students, Salerno told AFP on the sidelines of a press conference in Rome.

"The works are hidden in this room, with so many locks that many keys are needed, so that no one can enter without the permission of others," she said.

Salerno, after a decade of research in archives and after visiting the Vatican and several European cities, including Paris, discovered that the artist's "maniacal" plan, as she called it, was intended "to prevent his works from falling into the hands of a nephew of his, who hated him." "The aim was to pass them on to his poor descendants ... for future generations," he explained.

The students involved in the project later founded the famous Academy of Art of San Luca, which still operates today.

The researcher assumes that the secret room is located or was located somewhere in the Basilica of St. Peter the Untouchables in Rome, where the tomb of Pope Julius II, a masterpiece by Michelangelo, is also located.

During her research, she found documents that could be attributed to Michelangelo, a bust of Jesus Christ the Redeemer, housed in the Basilica of Saint Agnes in Rome and until now considered the work of an unknown artist.

The researcher's conclusions have not yet been confirmed by other scientists. However, Salerno is a member of the Vatican committee organizing celebrations for the 550th anniversary of Michelangelo's birth.