MILAN, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Thieves stole four artworks by 15th century painter Antonello da Messina from a museum in his Sicilian hometown, a loss to the island's cultural heritage that a local councillor described as a "blow to the heart".
The theft deprives Messina of parts of the only surviving work by the Renaissance painter to have remained in his native city, as well as a small painting the Sicilian region acquired two decades ago.
The thieves entered the Museo Regionale di Messina late on Saturday, while the town was busy celebrating Assumption Day, Messina Mayor Federico Basile told Reuters.
As part of the celebrations, the people of Messina escort a carriage with colourful statues of the Virgin, Jesus and angels throughout the city during an hourslong procession known as 'la Vara'.
Enzo Caruso, a local councillor in charge of culture, told Reuters the city had been "truly stunned" by the burglary.
"At first, nobody could believe it," he added.
Caruso said the purchase of an Antonello da Messina piece by the Italian state for $15 million earlier this year had likely put the Messina museum on the criminals' radar. The museum also houses works by baroque master Caravaggio.
"This was almost certainly a commissioned theft," he added.
The thieves stole five wooden panels that made up an altarpiece measuring 170 cm by 203 cm, known as Polittico di San Gregorio, but abandoned two panels just outside the museum.
Originally comprising six boards and destined for a local monastery that was destroyed by Messina's 1908 earthquake, the altarpiece was the only work by the Sicilian painter never to have left his hometown.
The thieves took a fourth artwork from a secure display case: a small two-sided painting depicting the Virgin with Child and a Franciscan monk on one side and Christ on the other.
The work was part of the Wilhelm Soldan collection and was sold by Christie's to the Sicilian Region in 2003, the year it was attributed to Antonello da Messina.
In February Italy's culture ministry bought another two-sided painting, known as Ecce Homo, from Sotheby's just before it was to be sold at auction.
Born around 1430, Antonello da Messina trained in Naples where he studied the works of Flemish artists, whose influence is apparent in his works. He returned to Messina in 1457, where he worked until 1474.
The theft comes days after police in the northern Italian city of Parma announced the recovery of three paintings by French masters Paul Cezanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse that had been stolen from a museum there in March.
(Reporting by Valentina Za; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Christina Fincher)
