Thieves steal 30,000 bottles worth €5 million from Marchesi Antinori in Tuscany

Thieves stole approximately 30,000 bottles of wine valued at €5 million from Marchesi Antinori's facility near Cortona in Tuscany's Arezzo province on the night of Saturday, October 3, 2026. The stolen shipment consisted entirely of 2023 vintage wines, including approximately 10,000 bottles of Solaia—the winery's flagship product—along with Tignanello and Guado al Tasso, all retail-priced between €150 and €500 per bottle. A group of at least seven masked men disabled the alarm system and security cameras before using the facility's own forklifts to load two large trucks with wine. The theft went undetected until Monday morning, October 5, when employees discovered the missing inventory.

Renzo Cotarella, CEO of the 641-year-old Marchesi Antinori, described the operation as "very well-prepared" and "highly organized," characterizing it as the largest wine heist by value ever recorded in Italy. He suggested the same criminal group may have targeted other Italian wineries in recent months. Cotarella expressed confidence that two full truckloads of wine would be difficult to move undetected, given extensive camera coverage on Tuscan roads and the limited annual production of Solaia (60,000 to 70,000 bottles worldwide). The company immediately notified its 170 export markets worldwide, warning customers to be wary of wine offers outside official sales channels and alerting them that bottles sold at unusually attractive prices could be stolen goods. Antinori noted that the stolen bottles carry an anti-counterfeiting system allowing verification of authenticity.

The theft occurs amid a series of high-value wine robberies across Italy in 2026. In June, thieves stole approximately 3,300 bottles of Alta Langa DOCG sparkling wine from Banfi's facility in Strevi, Piedmont. In September, four men took 3,000 bottles of Barolo wine from Conterno Fantino in Monforte d'Alba, Piedmont, using a forklift during a three-hour operation. Earlier in summer, two men posing as workers breached reinforced glass at Milan's Michelin-starred Affinatore restaurant, stealing bottles of Romanée-Conti valued at €280,000. Law enforcement authorities, including Police and Carabinieri, are investigating the Antinori theft and examining surveillance footage, though no arrests had been made as of the public announcement on Friday, October 9.