According to an article, yesterday, in La Stampa, Secondo Pia was not the first person to photograph the Shroud of Turin. Here is a Google translation:
The first official photos taken in the Cathedral of the Holy Shroud of Turin by Secondo Pia May 28, 1898, after two test carried out on May 25, were preceded by a series of shots illegal, so far unknown, made by a photographer unauthorized, that A. Gallo. He acted at night, before 27 May and developed his plates on 1 June.
It was announced by the Museum of the Holy Shroud, directed by Gian Maria Zaccone, who has received the gift of the photographs of Gallo by his descendants, the family Beltramo Ceppi of Milan.
The "positive"
The news is of significant importance for the history of the sacred relic. Because the snapshots made also reveal, in the version ‘positive’ of the fabric, the image of a man. Image that had been questioned by anti-clerical, which insinuated that that effect was the result of a photomontage.
The discovery will be presented in Turin, on the occasion of the exhibition that Enzo Ferraro care 14 to 29 September in the Church of the Holy Shroud, at Via San Domenico 28. To celebrate 15 years of opening of the adjacent museum, which took place in 1998, sets out the new acquisitions. Among these are the photos of Gallo to intrigue more. Also because they are the first to portray the pilgrims who made a visit to the Cathedral during the Exposition of 1898. But to understand the "scoop" of Gallo is necessary to remember that the photo set of Secondo Pia was set up many difficulties. House of Savoy, owner of the Shroud, he feared that the photos of the fabric could become the subject of economic speculation. So it was decided that only one photographer, Pia, could do the shoot.
The Princess
The Shroud was exposed on the high altar of the Cathedral. Pia to make the specimens, on the evening of 25 May, helped himself to two lighthouses rail, shielded by two frosted glass, which exploded in the heat though .. Both May 27 induced the Princess Clotilde of Savoy to be protected with a sheet of glass on canvas. So he was forced to resume Pia. With him they did it in secret even three amateur photographers and abusers:. The Jesuit Gian Maria Sanna Solaro, the Salesian Christmas Noguier, Lieutenant Xavier Up, responsible for security of the Cathedral.
Instead of Gallo in the plates do not notice the protective glass. Then he made his photos before 27 May.His descendants say that for taking them hid in a confessional. But it is more likely to be mixed between important pilgrims who had access to the Shroud at night, when it was already displaced the general public.