Maurizio Aceto

Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale · Scienze e Innovazione Tecnologica

The Desana treasure is a remarkable assemblage of items made of gold, silver, gemstones and glasses found in north-western Italy. Most scholars agree on the fact that the core of the treasure might have belonged to a single deposit resulted from a long period of selection, accumulation and use. The treasure testifies to the evolution of goldsmiths’...

Villa di Teodorico in Galeata (Forlì-Cesena, Emilia Romagna) is an important archeological site in the north of Italy occupied from sixth century BC to twelfth century AD. The most interesting results concern the Roman age, when a large villa was built, and the late antiquity, when the Ostrogothic king Theodoric decided to build in this area his pa...

Recently, different methods have been proposed to develop wood materials, termed “densified woods”, with density increment and improvement in mechanical proprieties. Almost all the proposed methods involve the use of reducing agents and strong bases. In this work, a new method has been developed involving the use of less polluting agents. The forma...

The identification of gemstones is an important topic in the field of cultural heritage, given their enormous value. Particularly, the most important precious stones, namely diamond, emerald, ruby and sapphire, are frequently subjected to counterfeit by substitution with objects of lesser value with similar appearance, colour or shape. While a gemm...

The production chain of hazelnuts has been studied by analyzing three sets of samples produced in purity from three different pools of hazelnuts of cultivar “Tonda Gentile Trilobata”, “Tonda Gentile Romana” and “Mortarella”, all cultivated in Italy. From each pool, five processed products were obtained: roasted hazelnuts, hazelnut paste, hazelnut c...

Conservation is a complex field that needs an exchange of views among different professionals including archaeologists, conservators, restorers and scientists. Diagnostic analyses can give useful information able to lay down the documentation about the artefacts conservation status before and after the restoration; to define the restoration plan an...

Study of the medieval Armenian manuscripts shows the importance of analyzing various recipes of ink preparation in their chronological sequence. The initial raw was fine ground charcoal or soot, on later stages - irongall ink was invented. The ancient Armenian recipes provide a good opportunity of tracing all the stages of improving the ink prepara...

The present contribution deals with the use of organic colourants in wall paintings, polychrome pottery and painted stone artworks, i.e. painted artworks on inorganic supports. The term organic colourants is referred to the chemical nature of these compounds but not to the way of application; therefore, organic colourants can be dyes, lakes or pigm...

Commonly exhibited in museum galleries, animal mummies have been the focus of interest of both visitors and researchers alike. The study of these animal remains not only provides new insights into embalming techniques, but also brings a unique perspective on religious, social and economic practices. Twenty animal mummies are discussed in this study...

An illuminated Book of Hours (in use in Chalon-sur-Saône) currently owned by the Museo Civico di Arte Antica and displayed in the prestigious Palazzo Madama in Torino (Italy) was investigated by means of optical microscopy, fibre optic reflectance spectroscopy, fibre optic molecular fluorimetry, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry and Raman spectroscop...

Several glass mosaic tesserae were found during the archeological excavations at the Villa di Teodorico in Galeata (Forlì‐Cesena, Emilia Romagna, Italy), dated to early sixth century AD. This work reports the results of an archeometrical investigation realized through a multi‐technique approach on 16 tesserae. The aims of the study were the determi...

The folded almanac Western MS.8932 (Wellcome Collection, London), produced in England between 1387 and 1405, is a calendar with astrological tables and diagrams used by medical practitioners to harness astrological information relating to health. Apart from the great interest for its use in medicine, this object has a unique feature in its exquisit...

Barbera d’Asti—including Barbera d’Asti superiore—and Nizza are two DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) wines produced in Piemonte (Italy) from the Barbera grape variety. Differences among them arise in the production specifications in terms of purity, ageing, and zone of production, in particular with concern to Nizza, which fo...

The 6th century Codex Sinopensis or Sinope Gospels (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France) is one of the most precious purple codices that survive from the Late Antique period. Together with the Vienna Genesis (Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) and the Rossano Gospels (Rossano Calabro, Museo Diocesano), it has an unusually rich decorative...

The Ashburnham Pentateuch (Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, ms. NAL 2334), dated around 600 CE, is an early medieval illuminated manuscript containing five books of the Old Testament. It is one of the most important artworks of its genre, thanks to its pictures that are among the earliest surviving and most extensive biblical illustrations....

Barbera d'Asti - including Barbera d'Asti superiore - and Nizza are two DOCG (Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita) wines produced in Piemonte (Italy) from Barbera grape variety. Differences among them arise in the production specifications in terms of purity, ageing and zone of production, in particular with concern to Nizza, which has...

In this work we used UV–visible–NIR diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry with optic fibres (FORS) in order to point out differences between mediaeval and 19th–20th century champlevé enamels previously analysed with X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF). FORS spectra of enamels collected in diffuse reflectance mode made it possible to obtain inform...

UV-Vis reflectance spectroscopy has been widely used as a non-invasive method for the study of cultural heritage materials for several decades. In particular, FORS, introduced in the 1980s, allows to acquire hundreds of reflectance spectra in situ in a short time, contributing to the identification of artist’s materials. More recently, microspectro...

The monastery church of Müstair (Val Müstair, Switzerland) and the church of St. Benedict in Malles (Obervinschgau, Italy) contain painting cycles dating to the late eighth/early ninth century which are considered among the best preserved in Europe. Located inside a region of strategic importance at least since Roman times, during the medieval era...

According to the antique Persian book resources which include information about different stages of making manuscripts, it is quite obvious that a large number of dyes were used to decorate the Persian manuscripts. In this research, in order to build up a spectral database devoted to dyes possibly employed in Persian manuscripts that were not studi...

When the imagination conjures up an image of an Egyptian mummy, it is normally one of a human body wrapped with undyed linen bandages. However, the reality was much more colourful, as shown by the set of red mummy shrouds and textile fragments from Pharaonic Egypt considered in this work. The textiles were subjected to scientific investigation with...

This work follows the recent discovery of a zinc-bearing Egyptian blue (EB) pigment widely used for the production of the early medieval mural paintings cycle in Santa Maria foris portas Church at Castelseprio (Lombardy Region, Italy). The inclusion of zinc in the synthesis of EB has been studied for the first time trying to evaluate whether its ad...

Historical and archaeological textiles are among the most crucial and vulnerable records of our social and cultural history. Analysis of organic colorants found in these materials is unquestionably one of the most powerful tools to understand historical developments, cultural exchanges, and progress in science and technology. Natural anthraquinones...

Orchil is a purple dye extracted from lichens, widely used since the 6th century for dyeing parchments, yarns and textiles, in particular as a substitute for the rare and expensive Tyrian Purple dye; additionally, it was used as a colourant in illuminated manuscripts. The dye was produced since antiquity, through a slow process which could take thr...

The Privilegium maius is one of the most famous and spectacular forgeries in medieval Europe. It is a set of charters made in the 14th century upon commitment by Duke Rudolf IV, a member of the Habsburg family, to elevate the rank and the prestige of his family. These five charters, now kept at the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv in Vienna, have been...

The chemical analysis of paintings is a powerful source of information when aiming to find relationships among different cultures or geographical areas. Indeed, the presence of particular colourants, specific of one area or of one pictorial school, could indicate that artists coming from abroad were at work outside of their usual boundaries, or tha...

Extra virgin olive oil (EVO) is among the most counterfeit foodstuffs in the present market. The Italian production is with no doubt one of the most valuable and therefore mostly counterfeit, due to the difficulty in checking the geographic provenance of olives. In order to provide a way for verifying the provenance of EVO, the role of microelement...

The exact recipe to prepare the ancient Maya Blue (MB), an incredibly resistant and brilliant pigment prepared from indigo (dye) and Paligorskite (clay), is lost to the ages. To unravel the key features of the MB formation process, several inorganic‐dye couples were heated to 200°C and cooled to RT, to investigate their reactivity and the diffusion...

The Privilegium maius is one of the most famous and spectacular forgeries in medieval Europe. It is a set of charters made in 14th century upon commitment by duke Rudolf IV, a member of the Habsburg family, to elevate the rank and the prestige of his family. These five charters, now kept at the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv in Vienna, have been sub...

The manuscript D.I.21 kept at Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria in Torino, better known as Messale Rosselli, is one of the richest fully illustrated missals surviving from the mid-14th century. It was produced in Avignon for the Aragonese Cardinal Nicolas Rossell (1314–1362) but after the patron's death, it passed from hand to hand until it reache...

The traditional knowledge concerning the use of Tyrian purple in Late Antique and Medieval purple codices - those precious biblical texts written with noble metal inks on parchment dyed or painted with purple colourants - is here updated in view of new analytical evidence. Recent literature reports the analysis carried out on some purple codices, s...

The investigation of the historical properties by means of scientific techniques is important to check their conservation state, to understand the causes of degradation, and to plan a correct restoration and preventive conservation for them. Therefore, the appropriate use of analytical methods in the case of conservation and restoration of historic...

UV-Vis reflectance spectroscopy has been widely used as a non-invasive method for the study of cultural heritage materials for several decades. In particular, FORS, introduced in the 1980s, allows to acquire hundreds of reflectance spectra in situ in a short time, contributing to the identification of artist’s materials. More recently, microspectro...

Low-ordered carbon/layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanocomposites were prepared by rehydration of the oxides produced by calcination of an organic LDH. While the memory effect is a widely recognized effect on oxides produced by inorganic LDH, it is unprecedented from the calcination/rehydration of organic ones. Different temperatures (400, 600, and...

A graphene-containing LDH was prepared by re-hydration of the oxides produced by the calcination of an organic LDH. While the memory effect is a widely recognized effect on oxides produced by inorganic LDHs, it is unprecedented from the calcination/re-hydration of organic ones. Different temperatures (400, 600 and 1100 °C) were tested, on the basis...

The mural paintings in Santa Maria foris portas church at Castelseprio (Lombardy) are a precious early medieval cycle datable between 9th or 10th century CE and are therefore among the oldest Carolingian in Italy. The painting cycle has been analysed in situ, to characterise the palette used in its decoration, with non-invasive molecular and elemen...

The traceability of foodstuffs is now a relevant aspect of the food market. Scientific research has been devoted to addressing this issue by developing analytical protocols in order to find the link between soil and food items. In this view, chemical parameters that can act as soil markers are being sought. In this work, the role of rare earth elem...

In this paper, the preliminary results of a study aimed to discriminate between the different species of lichens, from which orchil dyes originate, are presented. A multi-analytical approach has been used to analyze several species of lichens, in particular Roccella tinctoria DC, Lasallia pustulata L. and Ochrolechia tartarea L., in an attempt to i...

The ancient purple dye known as folium is still a mystery for both scientists and art historians. Today, it is commonly assumed that folium was produced from the fruits of Chrozophora tinctoria (L.) A. Juss., a plant belonging to the Euphorbiaceae family, and efforts have been mainly devoted to highlight the analytical features of the dyes extracte...

Manuscripts however are fragile and the characterization of their palette is an interesting task for conservation scientists but without a doubt a challenging one, Sampling is usually not allowed (though micro-sampling has demonstrated its efficiency). Moreover, the availability of portable analytical devices also plays a role in limiting the stres...

The identification of the purple dyes employed to colour purple codices is an intriguing task, as sampling is seldom permitted on these precious manuscripts and thus scientists should rely only on in situ analytical techniques. The availability of a small sample from the 6th century Codex Brixianus, conserved at Biblioteca Civica Queriniana (Bresci...

The Coptic textile collection of the Museo Egizio in Torino (Italy) has been the object of a broad project aimed at investigating the production techniques, at documenting the conservation state and at reconsidering the attributed age. The collection was also analysed by non-invasive and micro-invasive techniques with the aim of detecting the dyes...

Iron-gall ink (IGI) has been used by scribes for writing since at least the 4th century CE. Another typical use of this ink was for drawing: many Old Masters created beautiful sketches in brown-black hues. Despite its widespread use to draw lines, it seems like IGI was hardly used for painting as well. In fact, the number of identification on manus...

The traceability and authentication of milk was studied using trace and ultra-trace elements as chemical markers. Among these variables, the group of lanthanides resulted to be particularly useful at the purpose, due to their homogeneous distribution inside milk, which showed on the contrary to be intrinsically inhomogeneous from the ele-mental poi...

A 14th-century breviary known as Breviario di San Michele della Chiusa, produced at the disposal of the monks of Sacra di San Michele abbey (near Turin, Italy) has been analysed in order to identify the different authors who contributed in its making. The study aimed at revealing how many scribes composed the text and the musical notations and how...

In this work, a multi-technique analytical approach was used to characterize adhesive samples taken from medieval chef d'oeuvres jewellery, three manuscript bindings and a crucifix produced in northern Italy between the 8th and the 11th century ad, according to art-historical evaluation and 14C dating executed on adhesives. These materials being co...

During the last years the need for non-invasive and non-destructive analytical methods brought to the development and application of new instrumentation and analytical methods for the in-situ analysis of cultural heritage objects. In this work we present the application of a portable diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform (DRIFT) method for...

The contribution of inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to food classification is described in this chapter, with concern both to the determination of element concentrations and the determination of isotope ratios. Some preliminary concepts are described in the first paragraphs, referring to the technique and to the meaning of aut...

In 1982, a sixteenth-century botanical manuscript (ms. 95) was discovered in the private archive of the De Paoli family, in the Upper Vara Valley in the Ligurian province of La Spezia. Based on non-invasive diagnostic techniques, the analysis of the watermark and the iconographical comparisons, we know that the manuscript ms. 95 was produced in the...

The identification of the two purple dyes folium and orchil has rarely been reported in the analysis of painted artworks, especially when analysing illuminated manuscripts. This is not consistent with the fact that ancient literary sources suggested their use as substitutes for the more expensive Tyrian purple dye. By employing non-invasive spectro...

The Coronation Gospels or Krönungsevangeliar is a manuscript kept in Vienna at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, datable to the end of VIII century A.D. and produced at Charlemagne court. It is an example of a purple codex, i.e. its parchment is coloured in purple. It has to be considered as one of the most important medieval codices, according to...

The influence of Iranian Empires led to the production of manuscripts with common linguistic-textual features also over the borders of political influence. After the Mongol Conquest and from the fourteenth century onwards, supporting the artisans by rulers and patrons caused a great achievement of all luxury arts. As a result, a renaissance of the...

The food market nowadays accounts for huge incomes and therefore it is an easy target for falsification. This recalls the urgency for reliable and powerful diagnostic techniques, in order to develop analytical protocols for identification of frauds. MS-based strategies of analysis are definitely suitable for this task and have become in the last ye...

The manuscript of Edessa or ms. 3290, a XVIII century Armenian manuscript kept at Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna, has been thoroughly studied from the religious, artistic, historical and diagnostic point of view. Non-invasive measurements on the miniatures have been carried out in situ with portable instruments in order to evaluate the pictori...

Golden pigments are among the most common colourants used in Persian illuminated manuscripts. In this research, golden pigments were investigated in three eighteenth- to nineteenth-century manuscripts. Initially, scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectrometry analyses showed that different kinds of metallic pigments were present and so...

Cross sections are very useful in the scientific investigation of paintings and polychromies as they show the sequence of the layers and allow the detection of colorants in each layer through micro-Raman spectroscopy. Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) presently represents the most promising tool to overcome the limits of a traditional micro-...

The use of ultraviolet and visible diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry as a preliminary technique in the investigation of illuminated manuscripts is discussed. Because ancient manuscripts are amongst the most fragile and precious artworks, characterisation of the materials used in their decoration should be performed using non-invasive analytical...

The beneficial effects of wine drinking are at present acknowleged by the scientific community, for the reason of the polyphenolic content of wine which causes a lower incidence of cardiovascular diseases. The health treasure kept in wine derives from its raw materials; grapes, in fact, contain high amounts of polyphenols. However, only a fraction...