After a series of tests have been completed, scientists hope to be able to announce the finding of the lost Caravaggio. This time, however, they are not talking about one of the painters missing masterpieces, but the remains of Michaelangelo Merisi, the artist, who died at Porto Ercole, near Grosseto, north of Rome, on the 18 th July 1610. The artist, who died of fever when on the run from the papal authorities after killing a man in a brawl, was buried initially in a poor mans grave in the cemetery of San Sebastiano near the beach. In 1956, however, in the course of roadworks being carried out in the area, a coffin came to light, inscribed with the painters name and the date of his death. The bones were collected and removed to the church of Sant'Erasmus at Porto Ercole, where his death certificate is also preserved.
In order to identify Caravaggios bones, researchers will have to do carbon dating and DNA tests on the remains of some 200 individuals buried in the crypt and cemetery of the church. They hope to achieve identification in time to mark the 400 th anniversary of his death in 2010.
