🔻Italy’s culture minister says four “highly valuable” paintings were stolen from a museum in Sicily.

🔻Italy’s culture minister says four “highly valuable” paintings were stolen from a museum in Sicily.

Alessandro Giuli confirmed that three sections of the five-part painting St. Gregoryulo, as well as the two-sided painting Madonna with Child and Christ, were all taken on Saturday night from the museum in his hometown of Messina.

Police are investigating how the thieves managed to enter the city’s museum in northeast Sicily without triggering any alarms.

This is the latest in a string of museum thefts across Europe that has increasingly kept highly valuable works out of the public eye.

According to the Italian news agency ANSA, investigators are examining the suspicion that the theft of the four paintings was carried out at the request and behest of art thieves.

The paintings are on wood, and transporting them is not easy. The Madonna painting was also removed from inside a secure case.

The museum director called the theft a major blow for the city of Messina and for the entire art world.

📸 Reuters