A journalist browses the Messina museum website showing a picture of the Early Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina’s artwork, multiple pieces of which were stolen from the Sicilian museum on Aug. 15, 2026.
Gregorio Borgia/AP
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Gregorio Borgia/AP
The initial development was positive.
In late March, a group used a tractor to breach a fence, allowing two masked individuals to enter the Magnani Rocca Foundation, a private museum located approximately 12 miles from Parma in northern Italy. They accessed the museum through a window door and swiftly took three paintings from the walls, completing the entire operation in just under three minutes, despite being captured on security cameras.
The stolen artworks, valued at around $10 million, included Cézanne’s Still Life with Cherries (estimated at $7 million), Renoir’s Les Poissons (valued at approximately $3.5 million), and a Matisse aquatint, Odalisque on the Terrace ($23,000). This incident is part of a series of high-profile art thefts impacting museums and galleries across Europe.
Last Friday, authorities announced the recovery of the paintings during searches ordered by prosecutors. The operation was spearheaded by the Italian police unit known as the carabinieri, in collaboration with a team dedicated to safeguarding cultural heritage.
However, officials shared limited additional information, and the investigation is still active.
In this picture made available by the Italian Carabinieri in Parma, northern Italy, Friday, Aug. 14, 2026, Carabinieri pose near three artworks recovered following a police operation.
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Italian Carabinieri/AP
A new theft
Then came the unfortunate news.
The subsequent night, on a Saturday, coincided with the Italian holiday Ferragosto, during which much of the nation indulges in festivities. In Messina, Sicily, a significant religious festival on August 15, known as La Vara, drew thousands to the streets.
While the city’s attention was elsewhere, thieves bypassed the alarm system at Messina’s Museo Interdisciplinare Regionale (MuMe) and forced open a security case. They swiftly departed with four wooden panels by the renowned Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina.
Antonello, born around 1430 and trained in Naples, incorporated Provençal and Flemish influences into his art.
In the heist on Saturday, the thieves stole three of the five remaining panels from Antonello’s altarpiece, Polittico di San Gregorio. The original work had six panels, but one was destroyed along with the monastery it was housed in during the 1908 Messina earthquake. This artwork was the only piece by Antonello that had never left his hometown.
The thieves also took a small double-sided painting depicting the Virgin and Child on one side and Christ on the other. The Sicilian regional government had purchased this piece from Christie’s auction house in 2003.
Antonello’s artworks are highly valued in Italy. Just this February, the Italian government spent $14.9 million at a New York auction to acquire another Antonello piece, Ecce Homo. This portrait of the suffering Christ, believed to be from around 1460, was bought at Sotheby’s and will be housed in a museum in Abruzzo, on the mainland.
Providing more details on the March heist, authorities stated that nine individuals of Moldovan origin are under investigation. Though experienced in theft, they reportedly lacked the knowledge of the art market required to sell the stolen works.
Two thefts, a growing trend
These two thefts underscore a rising trend of art heists across Europe.
Since January 2025, over a dozen major art thefts have been recorded, prompting the International Council of Museums to collaborate with Interpol in response.
Among these incidents: an October 2025 break-in where thieves took less than eight minutes to clear the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery of jewels exceeding $100 million in value, a situation that eventually led to the departure of the museum’s director.
In January 2025, a gang used explosives to break into the Drents Museum in the Netherlands, stealing a 2,500-year-old Romanian gold helmet on loan. This national treasure was only returned to Romanian authorities 14 months later.
At the end of the previous year, Interpol’s Stolen Works of Art database included over 57,000 items, and the agency has warned that many stolen artworks remain unrecorded in this count.
