The Shroud of Turin between history and science: an ongoing debate

The Shroud of Turin has passed through centuries of history, has travelled and has experienced events, which have only partially been recorded in documentary sources. Popular-cultural tradition has now accepted it as being the Shroud of the historical Christ. Nevertheless, public opinion has always been divided between those who believe in its authenticity and those who do not. Since the seventies there have been various wide-ranging study campaigns devoted to unravelling the mystery. Today the Shroud has become once more the centre of attention for the scientific world on the occasion of its last exposition. This paper aims to present a chronology of the investigative phases conducted so far and to put forward a new proposal in the field of image analysis and artistic diagnosis.