Thieves made off with four valuable artworks from the Regional Interdisciplinary Museum in Messina, Sicily, on Saturday evening at 9:50 p.m. local time. The perpetrators managed to remove the pieces without activating the building's alarm systems.
The stolen items include three wooden panels from the San Gregorio Polyptych and a double-sided panel featuring another significant painting, which was removed directly from a secured display case. Investigators are working on the initial theory that the works were stolen to order for the black market.
The pieces are attributed to Antonello da Messina, one of the most celebrated painters of the early Renaissance in the 15th century. The San Gregorio work was painted in 1473, while the smaller double-sided panel appears to have been created for personal use. Because the paintings were executed on wooden panels, the thieves could not roll them up for transport.
Museum director Marisa Mercurio said "we are stunned by what happened," describing the incident as "a great loss for the museum, for the city, for the community and for the art world." Messina's mayor, Federico Basile, expressed outrage over "the despicable criminal act," adding that "heritage belonging to all the citizens of Messina has been desecrated. Messina will not allow its history to be plundered."
The incident joins a series of museum heists across Europe. Just days earlier, Italian police recovered paintings by Cézanne, Renoir and Matisse worth 9 million euros that had been taken within minutes, while a separate break-in at the Louvre Museum in Paris saw jewelry valued at 88 million euros stolen.
