The burial chambers were discovered last week under the floor of the Pontifical Teutonic College, following the shock discovery earlier this month that the bones of two 19th-century princesses had disappeared from their original tombs in the Teutonic Cemetery.
The graves of Princess Sophie von Hohenlohe and Princess Charlotte Federica of Mecklenburg, who died in 1836 and 1840 respectively, were exhumed after an anonymous tip-off that they may contain the remains of missing teenager Emanuela Orlandi.
The daughter of a Vatican employee, Orlandi was last seen leaving a music lesson in Rome in 1983, aged 15, and Italy has been gripped by her disappearance ever since.
Last year, Orlandi’s family received a picture of an angel-topped grave in the Teutonic cemetery, and an anonymous letter which read: “Look where the angel is pointing.”
But in a surprise twist, not only was there no trace of Orlandi, the remains of the princesses were nowhere to be found either.
The Vatican said the bones were likely moved during work on the cemetery and college during the 1960s and 1970s.
On Saturday, thousands of bones were unearthed from under the Pontifical Teutonic College and analysed at the site by Professor Giovanni Arcudi – a specialist in forensic medicine appointed by the Holy See – in the presence of an expert appointed by the Orlandi family, the Vatican said in a statement.
Morphological analysis of the bones “will continue on Saturday, July 27”, the Vatican added.
A sample would be taken from each set of remains for DNA analysis.
While the origins of the bones remain unknown, Emanuela’s brother, Pietro Orlandi, 60, said the investigation into the burial chambers has brought “great satisfaction”.
“To think if she was buried in the ossuary all these years, just 200 meters from our house, it would be devastating,” he told CNN.
