Overview
- Thieves entered the Museo Regionale di Messina on the night of Saturday, August 15 during Ferragosto and took three panels from the 1473 San Gregorio polyptych plus a small double‑sided devotional panel.
- Museum officials say alarms and cameras were functioning and guards were on site, and investigators are now reviewing surveillance footage to determine how the security was bypassed.
- Police and Messina prosecutors recovered two of the five polyptych panels left abandoned outside the museum and have closed the site while gathering evidence, with no arrests publicly reported so far.
- Art experts place the value of the missing works at about €70–80 million and stress the loss is both monetary and cultural because the San Gregorio panels were the only major Antonello pieces still in his home city.
- The theft follows recent high‑profile recoveries of stolen works in Italy and has prompted calls for urgent security reviews at regional museums and closer scrutiny of the illicit art market’s role in trading famous pieces.