World News
Four Antonello da Messina panels stolen from Sicilian museum during holiday celebrations
By Staff Writer | 17 August 2026
Thieves took three panels of the 1473 San Gregorio Polyptych and a double-sided panel of the Virgin Mary and the dead Christ from the regional museum in Messina on Saturday evening, while the city celebrated its Assumption procession. An art expert puts the value of the stolen works at up to 80 million euros.
Thieves stole four works attributed to the Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina from the regional museum in his home city of Messina, in Sicily, on Saturday evening, cultural officials said on Sunday. The theft took place while crowds gathered across the city for the traditional Assumption holiday celebrations, which culminated in a procession and blessing in the main Piazza Duomo at around the time of the break-in.
The thieves took three of the five surviving panels of the San Gregorio Polyptych, the altarpiece Antonello painted in 1473, and a double-sided panel depicting the Virgin Mary and the dead Christ in Pietà, which was removed from an armoured display case. They took all five polyptych panels out of their frame but abandoned two behind a wall while fleeing.
We are devastated by what happened. They were two of Antonello da Messina's most important and best-known works. It is a tremendous loss for the museum, the city, the community and the art world
Marisa Mercurio, director of the MuMe museum, Messina
Ms Mercurio said the theft occurred just before 10 pm, and that the alarms were working and the guards were on site. The museum was closed on Sunday while investigators gathered evidence.
Up to 80 million euros
The art expert Alberto Fiz estimated the value of the stolen works at between 70 million and 80 million euros. Enzo Caruso, the city's most senior culture official, called the theft "more than a loss" and "a disaster", and said international interest in the artist had intensified since Italy's Culture Ministry acquired Antonello's devotional painting Ecce Homo for 14.9 million dollars through negotiations earlier this year.
"Messina without Antonello is deprived of the very essence of the greatest artist of the European Renaissance," Mr Caruso said, calling for the swift recovery of the stolen works.
Lynda Albertson, chief executive of the ARCA art crimes research association, said the works are instantly recognisable, which impedes any attempt to sell them through reputable channels. Works of this fame, she said, often pass from one criminal hand to another as collateral for other illicit dealings rather than reaching any open market.
A second museum theft in a difficult week
The theft came days after police in the northern city of Parma announced the recovery of three stolen works by Renoir, Cezanne and Matisse, together worth about 10 million euros. Five people have been detained over that theft, carried out in March at a private art foundation in the Parma province.
For Messina, the loss is of a different order. The stolen panels belong to the painter the city regards as its own, and the polyptych's five surviving panels were among the museum's best-known holdings. No arrests in the Messina theft had been announced by Sunday evening.