Four Renaissance paintings of “extraordinary value” have been stolen from a museum in Sicily, Italy’s culture minister, Alessandro Giuli, has confirmed. The stolen items include three panels of the Polyptych of San Gregorio and a double-sided panel of the Madonna with Child and Christ in Pietà, all attributed to the 15th-century master Antonello da Messina.
The theft occurred at the Regional Interdisciplinary Museum of Messina on Saturday night. Museum director Marisa Mercurio stated the incident is thought to have occurred around 21:50 local time (19:50 GMT). “We are shocked by what happened,” she told the Italian news agency Ansa, describing it as “a great loss for the museum, for the city, the community and the art world.”
Police are currently probing how the thieves gained entry without triggering the museum’s alarms. Investigators are working on the initial suspicion that the paintings were stolen to order by black market art thieves. Reports indicate the Madonna and Christ in Pietà was removed directly from a secure display case, and because the works were on wooden panels, they could not be easily rolled up.
Antonello da Messina was a 15th-century painter born and raised in Sicily who became a master of the early Renaissance. His San Gregorio Polyptych, painted in 1473, depicts the Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus, flanked by St Gregory, St Benedict, and several angels. The work was originally commissioned for the monastery of Santa Maria.
The stolen double-sided panel, featuring an infant Christ blessing a follower on one side and an adult Christ in death on the other, was likely intended for private worship due to its small size. Messina mayor Federico Basile expressed he was “deeply outraged” by the “heinous criminal act.” He added, “A heritage belonging to all the people of Messina has been violated. Messina will not let its history be stolen.”
This incident follows a separate, unrelated heist involving works by Cézanne, Renoir, and Matisse. Those paintings had a combined worth of €9m (£7.8m) and were taken by a gang in a matter of minutes, with the museum’s alarm system preventing them from taking more. Authorities are now comparing security protocols across regional institutions.
The security of priceless artworks in European museums was previously questioned late last year when thieves broke into the Louvre in Paris in broad daylight, stealing €88m worth of historic jewellery. The current Sicilian investigation remains ongoing as police search for leads on the perpetrators.
The theft in Messina occurred just days after Italy’s specialist art crime unit announced it had recovered three artworks stolen from a museum near Parma earlier this year. The recovery provided a brief success for authorities who are now facing renewed pressure to protect national heritage sites.
As the investigation continues, officials are reviewing surveillance footage and security logs to determine how the perpetrators bypassed the museum’s alarm systems. The loss of these specific Antonello da Messina panels is considered a significant cultural blow to the region, given the artist’s historical importance to Sicilian art history.
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