Four Renaissance artworks by painter Antonello da Messina were stolen from the MuMe Regional Interdisciplinary Museum in Messina, Sicily, on Saturday evening, according to statements from cultural officials and reports from Italian media. The theft, involving pieces valued at an estimated 80 million euros ($93 million), occurred at approximately 9:50 p.m. local time during the city’s annual Ferragosto holiday celebrations.
Italian news outlet Il Giornale dell’Arte reported that the timing of the theft coincided with the Vara procession, a major public event that drew large crowds and law enforcement resources to the city center.
According to a report from the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, the individuals responsible for the theft gained access to the museum grounds by cutting through a metal fence. They then entered the building by forcing open a side door. Once inside, they breached an armored glass display case to take the artworks.
The stolen items include a small, double-sided panel created between 1465 and 1474. The piece features “Virgin and Child with a Franciscan Monk” on its front and “Christ in Pieta” on its reverse. The Sicilian region acquired the panel at a Christie’s auction in 2003.
Three panels from the historic San Gregorio Polyptych, an altarpiece commissioned in 1473, were also taken. The altarpiece is the only major work by Antonello that remained in his hometown. Italian newspaper Repubblica reported that two other panels from the polyptych, depicting Saint Benedict and Saint Gregory, were found abandoned near the museum.
Museum director Marisa Mercurio described the significance of the stolen works in a statement to the Italian news agency ANSA. “We are devastated by what happened. They were two of Antonello da Messina’s most important and best-known works,” Mercurio said.
Local Culture Councillor Enzo Caruso commented on the incident to the newspaper Il Tirreno, stating, “Nobody in Messina could have imagined a real movie-style heist like at the Louvre.”
Lynda Albertson, CEO of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art (ARCA), told La Repubblica that the high profile of the artworks could complicate any effort to sell them. “Stealing an Antonello may be far easier than selling one,” Albertson stated, explaining that such well-known pieces are often difficult to move on the market and may be used as leverage within criminal networks.
Antonello da Messina, born around 1430, is considered a significant painter of the early Italian Renaissance. A limited number of his works are known to have survived, and they are regarded as important cultural artifacts. The investigation into the theft is ongoing.
