Four Antonello da Messina Artworks Stolen from Messina Museum

Four works by Renaissance master Antonello da Messina were stolen from the regional museum in Messina, Sicily, during an annual religious festival on Saturday.

The theft occurred on the Feast of the Assumption, while hundreds of devotees and onlookers were paying homage to the Vara procession in Piazza Duomo, 4 km away from the museum. Three or four people, with faces covered by balaclavas, managed to enter the museum shortly before 10:00 PM. They stole six works by Antonello, the most important Sicilian painter of the 15th century.

Two other works were found shortly afterward on a low wall outside the museum, likely abandoned by the thieves during their escape due to passersby. The heist is estimated to be worth tens of millions of euros. Art expert Alberto Fiz estimated the value of the stolen works at 70 million euros ($81 million) to 80 million euros ($92 million).

The stolen pieces included three of the five surviving panels from Antonello's 1473 "San Gregorio Polyptych" and a small, double-sided tempera panel dating back to 1465-1474. The double-sided panel features the Virgin and Child with a Franciscan Monk on its front and Christ in Pietà on its reverse. The perpetrators cut through metal perimeter fencing and forced open a side door to enter the gallery halls.

They then breached an armored glass display case to extract the double-sided panel. Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli expressed dismay and regret, assuring his full willingness to cooperate with the regional authorities. Sicilian Regional President Renato Schifani described it as an exceptional criminal act and an intolerable affront to universal cultural heritage. The Messina Public Prosecutor's Office opened an investigation into aggravated theft of artworks, currently against unknown persons, as Chief Prosecutor Antonio D'Amato emphasized.

Police set up checkpoints at ferry terminals to Calabria, but checks have been unsuccessful. It remains unknown whether the gang left Sicily or if the masterpieces are hidden on the island.