How a Renaissance Art Heist Happened in Sicily

A journalist browses the Messina museum website showing a picture of the Early Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina's artwork, the Polyptych of San Gregorio, in Rome on Aug.

16, 2026. —Gregorio Borgia—AP While the Sicilian city of Messina celebrated its most important religious summer holiday, thieves carried out a heist at the regional museum, making off with several works by Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina.

The thieves stole four of Antonello’s works from the Regional Museum of Messina (MuMe), local officials said on Sunday.

The 15th century artist is credited with revolutionizing Renaissance portraiture by popularizing elements of Flemish realism and oil-painting techniques in Italy.

“We are devastated by what happened.

They were among Antonello da Messina’s most important and best-known works.

It is a tremendous loss for the museum, the city, the community and the art world,” MuMe director Marisa Mercurio told Italian news agency ANSA on Sunday.

“Messina without Antonello is deprived of the very essence of the greatest artist of the European Renaissance,” Enzo Caruso, Messina culture councillor, told broadcaster Sky Italia .

The theft is the latest high-profile heist in the art world.

Days before, Italian police said they recovered three artworks by Renoir, Cézanne, and Matisse that had been stolen from Parma’s Magnani Rocca Foundation in March .

Five people were detained in connection with the theft.

MuMe was closed to the public on Sunday amid ongoing investigations.

Here’s what we know so far about the heist.

How the theft happened At least three masked people approached the museum at around 9:50 p.m. on Saturday, Italian media reported, citing museum officials and preliminary investigative materials.