A new edition, the 4th, of National Geographic Traveler: Italy by Tim Jepson will be available in bookstores towards the end of next month, March 2012. The Shroud of Turin is briefly mentioned:
To believers, this controversial relic better known as the Turin shroud, is the winding sheet used to wrap Christ after his crucifixion. To doubters, it is a l3th-century fake. Carbon dating in 1988 seemed to vindicate the skeptics, but many have since questioned the validity of the dating techniques. The shroud is supposed to have been taken from Jerusalem to Cyprus, and from there to France, where it came into the possession of the Savoys in 1453.
First displayed in the [Turin] cathedral in 1694, it is now shown to visitors only intermittently. Fake or otherwise, no one has been able to give a plausible explanation for the cloth’s image, a shadowy outline of a crucified man, complete with wounds and the marks consistent with a crown of thorns.