> > I have been asked by a client to perform a "trichromic Van
> > Gieson" that he
> > saw referenced in an Italian paper. He is studying pleurisy
>    It appears that your client does not know anything about
>    staining. I suggest that you ask him for the actual method
>    he wants. If that floors him (or her), do specimen slides
>    with Van Gieson and your favourite trichrome, and ask
>    which is preferred. It's clearly evident that you know

There is a stain which combines a stain for elastic fibers with a
consecutive trichrome, in Austria and Germany (and maybe in Italy too) we
call it elastica-van-Gieson-stain. Described by Weigert in 1898, it can be
found in older German textbooks for histology and also in Bancroft's
book(theory and practice of histological techniques 4th ed. page 132) as
Weigert's elastic stain. We used it often in demonstrating the elastic
fibers in lung tissue. Maybe that's the stain your client is looking for?