Carabinieri recover 18th-century painting stolen from Sicilian church in 1988

The Carabinieri TPC (Cultural Heritage Protection Command) has recovered an 18th-century Sicilian school painting titled ‘Madonna con Bambino, fra Santi e Angeli’ that was stolen from the Church of San Domenico in Rapano in March 1988.

The recovery was achieved through investigations coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Messina and carried out by the Carabinieri TPC section of Syracuse. Investigators identified the work by monitoring e-commerce websites and matching the piece against the ‘Database of Illicitly Stolen Cultural Goods.’

The painting was officially returned to the church in the municipality of Rometta, near Messina, in the presence of the Archbishop of Messina-Lipari-Santa Lucia del Mela. The restitution marks the return of the historical and religious artwork to its original location nearly forty years after the theft.