L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2025 www.italoamericano.org 28 L'Italo-Americano T o d a y , w e ' r e exploring a cen- turies-old cold c a s e : a l i n e n cloth, almost four m e t e r s l o n g , c a r r y i n g t h e faint imprint of a man. Some see in it the burial shroud of Jesus, others a brilliantly executed medieval forgery. For centuries, it has stirred faith, skepticism, and curios- ity in equal measure. Today, t h e S h r o u d o f T u r i n r e m a i n s o n e o f t h e m o s t studied, disputed, and fasci- nating objects in the world, p e r h a p s n o t s o m u c h f o r what it proves as for the end- less mystery it poses. The documented story of the Shroud begins in four- teenth-century France, in the small town of Lirey, where it was displayed by a knight n a m e d G e o f f r o i d e Charny. Almost immediate- ly, its authenticity was ques- tioned: in 1389, the Bishop of T r o y e s d e n o u n c e d i t a s a painting and called it a fraud. By the late fifteenth century, the relic had passed into the h a n d s o f t h e p o w e r f u l H o u s e o f S a v o y , w h i c h eventually transferred it to T u r i n , w h e r e i t h a s remained ever since, in the city's cathedral. Its scientific story, howev- e r , b e g a n m u c h l a t e r , i n 1898, when Italian amateur photographer Secondo Pia took the first negatives. To his astonishment, the plate developed not as a blur but as a startlingly clear image of a bearded face. That discov- ery transformed the Shroud from a regional relic into a global enigma, opening the door to decades of investiga- tion. The first major wave of modern research came in 1978, when a large team of American and European scientists formed the Shroud of Turin Research Project, or STURP. For several days, they bombarded the cloth with ultraviolet and infrared light, took photographs, and examined its fibers under microscopes. Their conclu- sion was clear on at least one p o i n t : t h e i m a g e w a s n o t painted. No traces of pig- m e n t s , d y e s , o r b r u s h strokes could be identified. The mystery only deepened: if not paint, then what pro- duced the image? Ten years later, the case seemed on the verge of clo- sure: in 1988, radiocarbon tests were carried out inde- pendently by three laborato- ries – Oxford, Zurich, and Arizona – on samples of the l i n e n . T h e i r r e s u l t s w e r e remarkably consistent: the cloth dated to between 1260 and 1390. For many scien- tists, that settled the matter, as a medieval origin fit well with the first historical men- tions in France. Yet not all accepted the verdict, with many critics arguing that the tested samples might have been taken from a repaired edge, contaminated by later t h r e a d s a n d c e n t u r i e s o f handling. The debate has never fully died down, and n e w s t u d i e s c o n t i n u e t o probe the issue. O t h e r c l u e s h a v e c o m e from unexpected directions. In the 1970s, Swiss crimi- nologist Max Frei collected pollen grains from the cloth a n d c l a i m e d t o i d e n t i f y species native to the Middle East, including plants that bloom around Jerusalem. Later, in 2015, a DNA study revealed traces from multi- ple plants and human mito- chondrial DNA from several regions, a mix consistent with the Shroud's long histo- ry of travel and exposure but not necessarily proof of ori- gin. The threads of evidence are tantalizing but rarely conclusive, leaving room for competing interpretations. The greatest puzzle, how- e v e r , r e m a i n s t h e i m a g e itself, a negative imprint, v i s i b l e i n d e t a i l w h e n reversed in photography, and very superficial, as it a f f e c t s o n l y t h e t o p m o s t f i b e r s o f t h e l i n e n . N o known pigment or substance penetrates the weave. In the 1 9 7 0 s , r e s e a r c h e r s u s i n g NASA's image analyzers dis- covered that the cloth con- t a i n s t h r e e - d i m e n s i o n a l i n f o r m a t i o n : w h e n p r o c e s s e d , i t p r o d u c e s a relief-like model of a human f o r m , s o m e t h i n g p h o - tographs normally do not c a r r y . T h e m y s t e r y remained. V a r i o u s t h e o r i e s h a v e been advanced to explain how the image was created: some propose a medieval artist using primitive acid techniques or dusted pow- ders; others suggest natural chemical reactions between a body and the cloth, such as a Maillard reaction similar to the browning of bread. Still others point to radia- t i o n o r b u r s t s o f e n e r g y , i d e a s t h a t e d g e i n t o t h e speculative. None has repro- duced all the image's pecu- liar qualities. R e c e n t r e s e a r c h h a s added a new twist. In 2025, Brazilian digital designer C i c e r o M o r a e s u s e d advanced 3D modeling to test how the Shroud's image would correspond to either a human body or a sculpted relief. His results suggest the imprint fits far more con- vincingly with a low-relief sculpture than with the com- plex curves of a real body. In other words, if the Shroud is a forgery, it might have been made by draping linen over a carved form rather than over a corpse. That does not s o l v e t h e m y s t e r y , b u t i t adds yet another layer to a debate that refuses to close. A s y o u m a y i m a g i n e , curiosities about the Shroud a b o u n d . O n e o f t h e m o s t striking remains Secondo Pia's photographic negative, the image that revealed the f a c e s o v i v i d l y i t s t a r t l e d even skeptics, but there is a l s o R a y m o n d R o g e r s , a chemist who once proposed dating the cloth by measur- ing vanillin loss in its fibers, suggesting it could be cen- turies older than the carbon dating implied, though the m e t h o d i s c o n t r o v e r s i a l . Botanists have claimed to discern faint floral patterns on the cloth, perhaps the o u t l i n e s o f p r e s s e d b l o s - s o m s , b u t m a n y d i s p u t e whether these are genuine or illusions in the weave. Each study, whether accept- ed or challenged, seems to keep the conversation alive rather than put it to rest. What keeps the Shroud of T u r i n i n t e r e s t i n g , e v e n beyond questions of faith, is this blend of history, sci- ence, and mystery. It is a case where every new tech- n o l o g y – p h o t o g r a p h y , radiocarbon dating, DNA sequencing, digital 3D mod- eling – has been applied in search of answers, yet the o b j e c t r e s i s t s d e f i n i t i v e explanation. Believers con- tinue to see in it the imprint of the crucified Christ; skep- t i c s s e e t h e s k i l l o f a m e d i e v a l c r a f t s m a n . Between the two, the Shroud remains a riddle that science has not fully solved. Relic or forgery, its power i s u n d e n i a b l e . D i s p l a y e d o n l y r a r e l y ( u s u a l l y o n Jubilee years, but it won't be i n 2 0 2 5 ) , i t c o n t i n u e s t o a t t r a c t p i l g r i m s a n d researchers. For some, it is a focus of devotion; for others, it is the ultimate historical p u z z l e . E i t h e r w a y , t h e Shroud is a reminder that certain mysteries last not because they lack evidence, but because the evidence itself is endlessly rich, com- plex, and open to interpreta- tion. In that sense, it is less a solved case than an open file, waiting for the next gen- eration of investigators, and the next turn in a story that has lasted centuries already. FRANCESCA BEZZONE T h e S h r o u d o f T u r i n : r e l i c , f o r g e r y , o r something in between? Secondo Pia's famous picture of the Shroud, taken in 1898 (Photo: Shutterstock) HERITAGE HISTORY IDENTITY TRADITIONS PEOPLE

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