Thieves stole three panels of Antonello da Messina's 1473 Polittico di San Gregorio (San Gregorio Polyptych) from the Museo Regionale Accascina in Messina on 15 August, but inexplicably abandoned two other panels from the same work on a wall outside the building, leaving investigators baffled.
The heist occurred at approximately 8.47pm during the Vara procession, a religious festival founded in 1535 that draws more than 150,000 people to central Messina on Italy's Ferragosto public holiday. At least two men cut through fencing surrounding the museum, located a few miles north of the city centre, forced open a side door with a crowbar, and accessed a display case containing the five surviving panels of the polyptych, Antonello's most important work, along with a small double-sided painting.
Timing and Execution of the Robbery
Investigators noted that the thieves chose the one day of the year when Messina's outskirts are nearly deserted. "If there is one day out of the 365 in the year that a thief would choose to carry out a robbery in Messina, it would be 15 August, the day of the Vara procession," said an investigator close to the inquiry. The event features a 14-metre pyramidal float depicting the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, with hundreds of police deployed and major roads closed.
Lelio Bonaccorso, a graphic novelist and Messina-based art expert who has collaborated with the regional museum, explained: "The city's outskirts are almost deserted that day. Those who stay home are mostly elderly people, for whom the August heat and huge crowds can pose a health risk." According to investigative sources speaking to local media, two masked men entered the museum wearing motorcycle helmets, possibly aided by two accomplices who remained outside as lookouts.
Mysteries and Security Gaps
The exact point of entry into the museum's grounds remains under investigation, but one line of inquiry is that the thieves came via an adjacent apartment block. After cutting through the fence, they headed for a side door that, according to investigative sources, was not fitted with an alarm system. Valentina Certo, an art historian affiliated with the University of Messina, highlighted a key mystery: "CCTV shows the raid lasted just two to three minutes. How did the thieves remove all five panels so quickly, and know the door was not alarmed?"
Investigators suspect possible inside help. The Ansa news agency reported that a museum employee was under investigation over alleged inconsistencies about the alarm system, though police sources dismissed the report. Christopher Marinello, a lawyer and chief executive of Art Recovery International, commented: "Law enforcement always looks for an insider connection when it comes to museum thefts. It's just a sign of good investigative work. How did the criminals get past the guards, the alarms, the cameras? There is always an assumption that the thieves must have had inside help, even if it is eventually proven otherwise."
While the door used may not have been alarmed, Antonello's polyptych was protected by a security system designed to trigger an alert at the slightest movement. Investigative sources told La Sicilia that the alarm sounded as expected. According to police sources speaking to the TG La7 news programme, one guard allegedly told investigators he heard it and switched it off, believing it was a false alarm.
Discovery and Abandoned Panels
The theft was discovered by a woman who noticed something unusual on a low wall outside the museum about 10 minutes after the theft. In a recording shared with the Guardian, she told police: "There are museum paintings in the street, as if someone stole them and left them here. They're large and worth a lot of money." Inexplicably, two panels from the polyptych were left on the wall. "They had not been thrown to the ground, but carefully propped up," said Bonaccorso. "Why go to the trouble of dismantling a five-panel work and then abandon two of them outside the building?"
The Museo Regionale Interdisciplinare, often shortened to MuMe, houses some of Sicily's finest archaeological and Renaissance and baroque treasures, including two Caravaggios. The Italian painter spent several months in Messina in 1609, painting The Raising of Lazarus and The Adoration of the Shepherds before moving to Palermo, where he painted the Nativity with St Francis and St Lawrence. That work was stolen from the Oratory of San Lorenzo in 1969 and has never been recovered, with investigators long suspecting mafia involvement; it remains on the FBI's list of most wanted stolen artworks.
Investigation and Cultural Impact
Shortly after the Antonello theft, Messina's chief prosecutor told Rai that mafia involvement could not be ruled out. Marinello offered a different view: "Given the location of theft and Hollywood stereotypes, I can understand why people are considering mafia involvement. However, in my view, even the most hardened local mafioso would never desecrate Messina in this way."
The stolen work, originally composed of six panels and created for the Monastero di San Gregorio, is the only work by the Sicilian painter never to have left his home city. It survived the 1908 earthquake that devastated Messina, killing about half its population. Some local people saw it as embodying a kind of rebirth in a city repeatedly scarred over the centuries by earthquakes and then by the bombs of the second world war.
Investigators have not ruled out an escape by speedboat, a theft to order, or a ransom demand. But selling such a famous, incomplete work would be extremely difficult. Marinello noted: "How would an evil collector display it? It would have to remain hidden. These thieves will soon discover the paintings are 'radioactive' – and will never bring them the millions they expected." For now, black panels cover the space where the polyptych sat. "Here we have a saying," said Bonaccorso. "We are like the phoenix. We always rise from the ashes of the catastrophes that have struck our city. This theft is not a tragedy like an earthquake, but another wound for Messina. Yet we will rise again this time too."
