Big Robbery in Messina Museum: Historical Artifacts Stolen

On Saturday night in Messina, during the celebrations of the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, historical artifacts were broken into and stolen from the Museo Regionale di Messina. The robbery took place while a traditional parade called "La Vara" was being held in the city, which lasted for hours. During the ceremony, a large platform with colorful statues depicting the Virgin Mary, Jesus and angels was carried through the city streets.

Messina Mayor Federico Basile said that the robbery took place during the ceremony. Stating that the museum may have been specifically targeted, Caruso said, "This was almost certainly an ordered theft."

Thieves took five wooden pieces that make up the altarpiece, called Polittico di San Gregorio, measuring 170 centimeters by 203 centimeters, from the museum. However, he left two of the panels just outside the museum. Thus, three panels of the work were stolen. The work, which originally consisted of six panels, was prepared for a monastery in Messina. The monastery was destroyed in the earthquake that destroyed the city in 1908. Polittico di San Gregorio was known as the only work of the Sicilian painter Antonello da Messina that never left his hometown.

A small, two-faced painting displayed in the window was also stolen. On one side of the work, the Virgin Mary and a Franciscan monk are depicted with the child Jesus, and on the other side, Jesus is depicted. The work, which belonged to the Wilhelm Soldan collection, was sold to the Sicily Region administration by Christie's in 2003. In the same year, it was determined that the painting belonged to Antonello da Messina.

The robbery occurred just days after police in the northern Italian city of Parma said they had found three paintings by Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse stolen from a museum in March.