DNA studies have so far been unable to lay to rest claims that Christopher Columbus was not Italian, but researchers are still hoping to settle the point .
Comparisons of DNA from Columbus's bones - and those of his two sons - with Italian, Spanish and Portuguese people of the same name have so far proved "inconclusive," the head of Grenada University genetics lab told ANSA Wednesday .
"The genetic markers we have found have not enabled us to glean sufficient information yet," Professor Jose' Antonio Lorente said .
But the scientist said he would keep on trying and hopefully get "a sufficiently clear response" in a few months' time .
Lorente took samples from the three sets of bones in 2003. Teams in Italy, Spain, Portugal and France have been comparing them with fresh swabs from modern-day Columbuses bearing the relevant surnames .
So far, Lorente indicated, there had not been enough "critical mass" of descendant DNA to put him inside any one nation's borders .
Columbus's only established present-day heir, Spanish nobleman Cristobal Colon XX, commented on the Granada study during a visit to Genoa Wednesday, sniffing at suggestions his famed relative was not from the northern Italian port city .
"There are many theories about his birth, and new claims seem to come out every day from all kinds of places including Corsica, but the most credible thesis is that my illustrious ancestor was Genoese," said the duke after opening Italy's first merchant-marine academy In Italian, Columbus is called Cristoforo Colombo (the name means 'dove'). In Portuguese he is Cristóv o Colon; in Spanish Cristóbal Colón; in French Christophe Colomb and in Catalan Cristo'for Colom. The generally accepted view that the explorer was the son of lowly Genoese wool trader and innkeeper Domenico Colombo has been challenged at various times over the years .
Several Spanish scholars have contended he was of noble Spanish or Catalan origin .
An Italian historian, Renato Biagioli, has gone further in claiming he was the illegitimate son of a Roman noblewoman and a pope, who sired him as a teenager before he entered the Church .
Other aspects of Colombus's life and legacy are in dispute .
He is still widely celebrated as a brave and able navigator who discovered America, although historians say Vikings, and possibly others, got there first. Recent studies have played up the brutal nature of his Caribbean rule while Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has led efforts to cancel Columbus Day because he allegedly committed genocide .
Spain and San Domingo, meanwhile, are squabbling over where the explorer's bones ended up .
Several commemorative events are planned in Italy Thursday, the 500th anniversary of Columbus's death .
