# Four Antonello da Messina artworks worth Rs 690 crore stolen in Sicily 2026-08-17T02:11:40+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Thieves stole four Renaissance artworks worth about Rs 690 crore from the Museo Regionale di Messina in Sicily on Saturday night, while the town celebrated Assumption Day. The robbers bypassed alarms and security to take three panels of the San Gregorio Polyptych, dated 1473, and a double-sided panel of the Virgin Mary and the dead Christ from an armored display case. They abandoned two other panels outside the museum while fleeing, Livemint reports quoting Reuters. Art expert Alberto Fiz estimated the stolen works' value at Rs 690 crore. MuMe director Marisa Mercurio called the theft "a tremendous loss for the museum, the city, the community and the art world." Messina's top culture official Enzo Caruso described it as "a disaster" and said Messina without Antonello is "deprived of the very essence of the greatest artist of the European Renaissance." The theft follows Italy's recovery of three other stolen artworks from a Parma museum earlier this year. ## Coverage - livemint.com This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Antonello da Messina, Enzo Caruso, Federico Basile, Museo Regionale di Messina, Sicily Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/four-antonello-da-messina-artworks-worth-rs-690-crore-stolen-in-sicily/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/four-antonello-da-messina-artworks-worth-rs-690-crore-stolen-in-sicily/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/