Artwork Heist Shakes Museo Regionale di Messina

Four valuable artworks by 15th-century painter Antonello da Messina have been stolen from the Museo Regionale di Messina. The theft includes panels from an altarpiece and a painting previously sold to the Sicilian Region. The heist occurred on August 15, during Italy's national holiday.

An audacious theft at the Museo Regionale di Messina has resulted in the loss of four artworks by renowned 15th-century painter Antonello da Messina. According to Italian media, citing a statement from the museum's directorship, the stolen pieces include three panels from the Polittico di San Gregorio, a significant altarpiece.

The heist was executed late on August 15, coinciding with a national holiday in Italy. The panel pieces were the only ones to have remained in Messina, the painter's native city, and were destined for the Monastero San Gregorio. The monastery was destroyed in the 1908 earthquake, leaving these panels as a testament to its history.

A fourth artwork, a small, two-sided painting depicting religious figures, was also taken. This piece, a part of the Wilhelm Soldan collection, was attributed to Antonello da Messina in 2003 after being acquired by the Sicilian Region. The theft follows the recovery of other stolen paintings by renowned artists in northern Italy.