Wire report
Messina mystery: theft of Renaissance art from Sicilian museum leaves investigators baffled
How did thieves pull off robbery of Antonello da Messina’s 15th-century masterpiece – and why did they leave part of it behind? At about 8.47pm on the evening of 15 August, while tens of thousands of worshippers filled the streets of central Messina for a religious festival, at least two men cut through the fencing surrounding the regional museum, located a few miles to the north on the outskirts of the Sicilian harbour city. Capitalising on the fact that the streets around the museum were unusually quiet, the men forced open a side door with a crowbar, gaining direct access to a display case containing the five surviving panels of the Renaissance master Antonello da Messina’s polyptych Polittico di San Gregorio , his most important work, and a small double-sided painting. Undisturbed, they removed the works from the building and fled. Continue reading...
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How did thieves pull off robbery of Antonello da Messina’s 15th-century masterpiece – and why did they leave part of it behind? At about 8.47pm on the evening of 15 August, while tens of thousands of worshippers filled the streets of central Messina for a religious festival, at least two men cut through the fencing surrounding the regional museum, located a few miles to the north on the outskirts of the Sicilian harbour city. Capitalising on the fact that the streets around the museum were unusually quiet, the men forced open a side door with a crowbar, gaining direct access to a display case containing the five surviving panels of the Renaissance master Antonello da Messina’s polyptych Polittico di San Gregorio , his most important work, and a small double-sided painting. Undisturbed, they removed the works from the building and fled. Continue reading...
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What happened
According to The Guardian’s source item, Messina mystery: theft of Renaissance art from Sicilian museum leaves investigators baffled, How did thieves pull off robbery of Antonello da Messina’s 15th-century masterpiece – and why did they leave part of it behind? At about 8.47pm on the evening of 15 August, while tens of thousands of worshippers filled the streets of central Messina for a religious festival, at least two men cut through the fencing surrounding the regional museum, located a few miles to the north on the outskirts of the Sicilian harbour city. Capitalising on the fact that the streets around the museum were unusually quiet, the men forced open a side door with a crowbar, gaining direct access to a display case containing the five surviving panels of the Renaissance master Antonello da Messina’s polyptych Polittico di San Gregorio , his most important work, and a small double-sided painting. Undisturbed, they removed the works from the building and fled. Continue reading…
Context
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Primary source: Messina mystery: theft of Renaissance art from Sicilian museum leaves investigators baffled via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.
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- Messina mystery: theft of Renaissance art from Sicilian museum leaves investigators baffledThe Guardian - 2026-08-30T04:00:46+00:00
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