Vatican daily Osservatore Romano on Monday slammed what it described as ''fanciful'' representations of Michelangelo by television shows.
In an article entitled ''How boring is the Dan-Brown style Michelangelo'', the newspaper claimed the real Michelangelo was too often a ''victim'' of TV show reconstructions and asked why programmes can't ''tell the truth''.
''The recipe is simple: you just ignore the simple laws of chronology... mix together cloak and dagger stories, Renaissance grand guignol and monastic horror scenarios like in (Umberto Eco's novel) The Name of the Rose, make everything more appealing with the signature of a genius and it's done,'' the article said.
The crime was worse because ''being dead for various centuries, (Michelangelo) has no right of reply'', it continued.
Two shows are singled out for special criticism, including a special by the History Channel, Michelangelo: A Heretical Passion, in which the artist was portrayed as the founder of a heretical sect.
The programme focused on the views of art historian and restorer Antonio Forcellino, who believes Michelangelo was close to a group of people who ''tried to change things in the Church and instead lost and ended up being judged as heretics''.
Superquark, a history programme shown by state broadcaster RAI, also came under fire because Michelangelo was ''depicted as a lay saviour who wanted to rip the agonising Lorenzo de Medici from the clutches of feverish (priest Girolamo) Savonarola''.
Lorenzo de Medici, ruler of Florence and one of Michelangelo's principal patrons, fell under the spell of Savonarola, who was known for destroying what he believed was immoral art and preaching against corruption among the clergy.
Savonarola was also behind the Bonfire of the Vanities, when art, books and cosmetics were burnt in Florence on Shrove Tuesday in 1497.
''The absurdities of these (portrayals of Michelangelo) are so numerous that it's not worth rebutting them,'' according to Osservatore Romano.
