With a little TLC and a lot of professional expertise, a fire-damaged mural from Little Italy is coming back to life. The 22-foot-long oil painting of Carlentini, Sicily, and Mount Etna was blistered and soot-covered in a Jan. 13 fire that has shut down the Sons of Italy Hall south of downtown. (It’s expected to reopen in June.)

Meticulously giving the mural tender loving care — with cotton swabs, soft brushes and mineral-spirits organic solvent — is painter-conservator Deborah Uhl. “This is just about as challenging as it gets,” Uhl said Tuesday. “It was pretty close to asking, ‘Is it worth it?’ ”