After laboring for over half a decade to bring the Ognissanti Crucifix back to its original lapis lazuli-tinted glory, restorers of a Florentine rood screen cross discovered that they had something more than just a 14th-century marvel on their hands — the religious icon now seems to be the work of Giotto, rather than a pupil of the Italian master painter. The cross, which looms at around 16.4 feet will next month be returned to the Ognissanti church, where it will take up residence in a chapel to the left of the transept, where it was formerly displayed.

"The most difficult phase of the work was the cleaning, which involved years of a very delicate and gradual removal of the altered layer on the blackened surface," Anna-Marie Hilling, the 33-year-old head of the small group of conservation experts, told the Guardian. "Every single square millimetre was cleaned with specific chemical solving systems applied under the control of the microscope, as the original layers were extremely delicate"

But it was through the use of infrared photography and X-ray technology that Hilling and her team were able to identify the piece as an early trecento Renaissance work from the hand of Giotto di Bondone himself. Employing these advanced scientific methods, the experts were able to see preparatory sketches beneath the surface of the paint. Giotto specialists then identified the cross as the work of the legendary prodigy, most likely completed about 20 years after Giotto finished his crucifix in the Santa Maria Novella church in Florence.

"It is a very emotional time for me," Hilling told the British paper. "At the moment the cross is still in the laboratory, but it is now upright and seeing that gave me such satisfaction."