Theft at the Accascina museum in Messina: four custodians transferred, wide-ranging investigations

The four custodians who were on duty at the Accascina museum in Messina on the evening of 15 August, when the works of Antonello da Messina were stolen, have been transferred to other cultural heritage sites. These are two regional employees and two ASU, currently on holiday, who will not return to work in the museum. Disciplinary proceedings will also be initiated against them after the Department for Cultural Heritage of the Sicilian Region has received the report from the director of the museum, Marisa Mercurio. The proceeding could also lead to dismissal.

The investigations

Meanwhile, investigations continue to identify those responsible for the theft. Investigators are examining the images of the cameras present near the museum and in the surrounding areas to reconstruct how the thieves escaped. The investigation is proceeding in all directions and, as underlined by Messina's chief prosecutor Antonio D'Amato, a possible lead linked to the mafia is also being evaluated. Nor is the hypothesis that the theft was carried out by a Sicilian gang or by people from abroad excluded. Investigators are also examining several traces left by the gang.

The phone call to 112: "There are paintings on the street"

Yesterday the Messina Police Headquarters also released a passage from the phone call made to 112 by Elisabetta Bonfato, the citizen who had reported the presence of some paintings on the wall surrounding the museum. It was later discovered that they were two of Antonello da Messina's paintings abandoned by thieves. "I am at the Annunziata next to the museum. There are some paintings from the museum in the street as if someone had stolen them and placed them here. They are paintings from the museum, worth a lot of money...", the woman said. From the operations room the policeman replied: "I'll send the squad car to you immediately."