Four Renaissance paintings by Antonello da Messina stolen on Italian national holiday

Four Renaissance paintings have been stolen from an Italian museum during the country's summer national holiday.

Artworks by 15th-century painter Antonello da Messina were taken on Saturday night after thieves broke into the Museo Regionale di Messina (MuMe) in Sicily.

After evading the museum's alarms and security systems, raiders made off with three of the five surviving panels of the Polittico di San Gregorio (San Gregorio Polyptych) altarpiece, which date back to 1473.

A double-sided panel depicting the Virgin Mary and dead Christ in Pietà was removed from an armoured display case, Associated Press said, quoting the LaPresse news agency.

A small two-sided ⁠painting of the Virgin with Child and a Franciscan monk on one ​side and Christ on the other, was removed from a secure display case.

The 15th of August is the Ferragosto holiday in Italy, which marks the peak of the summer holiday season.

Italy's Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said in a statement: "I've learnt ​of the theft with shock and sadness."

MuMe director Marisa Mercurio said the theft occurred just before 10pm.

She said the museum is "devastated", calling it "a tremendous loss for the museum, the city, the community and the art world.

"These are not merely works by Antonello da Messina. They are works that hold considerable significance in terms of our identity, as well as, of course, their artistic and cultural value, because they are works by our very own Antonello da Messina," she told Sky TG24.

Enzo Caruso, a local councillor in charge of culture, quoted by the Corriere della Sera website, said the theft "was almost out of a movie".

Mr Caruso said the Italian government's $15m (£11.1m) purchase of another da ‌Messina earlier this year may have prompted the thieves to consider breaking into the museum.

The Polittico di San Gregorio altarpiece was originally made up of six panels and was the only work by the Sicilian painter to have never left his hometown.

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Art-crime analyst Lynda Albertson said stealing an Antonello "may be far easier than selling one. If these are ordinary thieves, they will soon discover that - to their cost".

Ms Albertson told the Italian daily La Repubblica that such famous artworks often pass from one criminal to another, serving as collateral for other illegal activity.

The museum was closed on Sunday while investigators gathered evidence. There has been no comment from the museum.

Born around 1430, Antonello da Messina trained in Naples before returning to his hometown where he worked from 1457 until 1474.

On Friday, ​Italian police recovered three paintings by French masters Paul Cezanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse that were stolen from a museum near the ‌northern city of Parma in March.

(c) Sky News 2026: Four Renaissance paintings by Antonello da Messina stolen on Italian national holiday