...I'm a little suspicious. Spain, Portugal, and Italy have been fighting fiercely to claim cultural credit for Columbus for my whole life (hundreds of years, even?) and some of the quotes in this article display some bias on the sides of the researchers. It's possibly a result of me using Firefox autotranslate out of laziness, but:

The theory of the Colombo Cristóforo, born in Genoa, raised in Genoa, educated in Genoa, is false because all the very important historians of Italy have written black on white that it is impossible for this our Colombo to be Jewish. There is a total incompatibility...

But then,

between 10,000 and 15,000 [Jewish people lived in] the Italian peninsula [at the time].

Obviously it's an interesting point, but the certainty of the first statement set off alarm bells for me. Especially because they're placing his origin in Aragon, specifically; the Spanish are very nationalist, but the Catalonians are even more nationalist as a way to fight back. Very, very far from damning, but certainly makes these surprising claims a little suspicious.

In terms of critical commentary, seemingly there is some: https://elpais.com/ciencia/2024-10-12/el-show-del-adn-de-cri...

It's pointed out that although the professor that did this DNA study is indeed an academic[1] specializing in the relevant field--which cannot be said of the main proponent, who appears to be a super biased enthusiast [2][3][4]--he hasn't actually published any of these findings yet, instead choosing to announce them via his own "thriller" TV show. Right off the bat, that's the absolute opposite of what a typical scientist would do with absurdly controversial findings -- and apparently this is the same pattern he's followed since 2005 on this topic, publishing no data of any kind in actual journals, just "announcing" various findings.

He does say "The scientific results, he says, will be presented at a press conference probably at the end of November", but... that's sus af, as the kids say.

Beyond that, the DNA analysis itself seems to be in doubt:

After the 2003 exhumation, no DNA could be extracted from the bones, Bottle says. The anthropologist says he stopped collaborating with the research team after those first analyses and has not wanted to participate anymore.
Carracedo recalls that the DNA that came to him was tremendously degraded and later disassociated from the project. He says he won't give his opinion on Lorente's new results until there is a serious scientific study published in a specialized journal.

The most damning evidence is non-circumstancial/character-based, of course, and it's what originally had me scratching my head in doubt:

In any case, possessing a gene, haplogroup, or haplotype associated with Jewish or Sephardic ancestry does not challenge the historical sources that support Columbus' birthplace in Genoa. Furthermore, it provides no information about the religious beliefs held by Columbus' close relatives (parents, grandparents, etc.), the researcher emphasizes... there is no Y chromosome that can be defined exclusively as Jewish-sephary, Chambers argues. Even if the total DNA of an individual was recovered, it would still be impossible to reach definitive conclusions about its exact geographical origin.

In other words: that's not really how genetics works...

Thanks for sharing OP, this was a fascinating little dive. I, for one, will stick with the consensus view that this idiotic monster of a person was from Italy, until this researcher publishes some peer-reviewed results!

[1] https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=uZXz5-sAAAAJ...

[2] He hasn't published basically anything: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=1462143920...

[3] Here's some of his (English!) writing, which IMO speaks for itself: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364304815_COLUMBUS_...

[4] ...and this book title gives away the game, which is probably why it isn't mentioned in the linked article: https://www.casadellibro.com/libro-la-catalanitat-de-colom/9...