Mafia Involvement Feared in Heist of Renaissance Paintings in Sicily
Authorities suspect mafia involvement after thieves escaped with four Antonello da Messina works valued at up to €80 million, officials said.
- On Saturday, thieves stole three panels from the Polittico di San Gregorio and a fourth painting from the Regional Museum of Messina, evading security systems during the Ferragosto national holiday.
- Renaissance master Antonello created the Polittico di San Gregorio for a Monastero di San Gregorio destroyed in the 1908 Messina earthquake, making these the only surviving works by the artist remaining in his hometown.
- Authorities later found two panels abandoned outside the Regional Museum, prompting suspicions of mafia involvement given the rapid, professional bypass of alarm systems.
- Messina culture official Enzo Caruso described the theft as a "very, very strange affair," suggesting the paintings might be ransomed or used as collateral in criminal dealings rather than sold.
- Italy's art crime squad is investigating the theft amid national anxiety, while museum director Marisa Mercurio stated the loss of these culturally significant works is impossible to measure in purely economic terms.
17 Articles
17 Articles
Renaissance art theft shocks Italy as four Antonello da Messina works stolen from Sicily museum
Four significant artworks by Antonello da Messina were stolen from a museum in Messina, Sicily. The thieves bypassed security measures during a busy holiday period on August 15. Two panels were later found abandoned outside the museum building. Investigators are examining how the security systems were compromised during the theft. The stolen paintings hold deep cultural significance for the city of Messina.
Disciplinary proceedings will be initiated against four guards at a museum in Messina after the theft of valuable works by Renaissance artist Antonello da Messina.
There are paintings on the street. It is so with a call to 112 that the first investigations have taken on the resounding theft of the evening of Ferragosto of the six works of Antonello da Messina from MuMe. Coordinated by the head of the mobile team Simone Scalzo, the policemen continue to view all the surveillance cameras that are [...] The article "There are pictures on the street" , the phone call that warns of the the theft of the works of…
The voice is that of Elisabetta Bonfato, the woman who first found herself in front of the two tables of Antonello da Messina abandoned on the sidewalk of the Mume Museum on the evening of August. It has just passed nine o'clock in the evening. At the other end of the telephone the police officer on duty to the police station. "What is the emergency?" he asks. Perhaps he never imagined he had to face one of the most resounding art thefts of rece…
Custodians facing disciplinary action after Renaissance artworks nabbed in Sicilian museum heist
Disciplinary proceedings are expected against several custodians present during a theft at the Museo Regionale di Messina (MuMe), which ended with thieves stealing four works attributed to the 15th-century Italian Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina.
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