Thieves Take 30,000 Bottles From Antinori Cellar in Tuscany

A gang of at least seven people broke into the cellars of the Marchesi Antinori winery near Cortona, in the Tuscan province of Arezzo, and loaded two trucks with some 30,000 bottles of wine before escaping, the company said. The Guardian put the value of the haul at about €5m, or £4.2m, and described it as thought to be the biggest heist of its kind in Italy.

The BBC reported the same figure and the same count of bottles, describing the theft at the Florence-based producer as one of the largest of its kind in the country. The New York Times, which put the loss at more than $5m, said as many as 10 men took part, a higher estimate of the gang's size than the company's own account.

France 24 said the wine was taken from a warehouse as the estate prepared a major export shipment, and that the company believed two vans and up to six thieves were involved. CBS News reported that the company identified the target as the Antinori property near Cortona, in Arezzo province, and valued the stolen bottles at $5.8m.

The discrepancies in the foreign accounts are themselves part of the story. The Guardian and the BBC, citing the company, put the gang at seven or more; the New York Times reported as many as 10 men; France 24 relayed a company estimate of up to six thieves and two vans. On the value, the Guardian and the BBC converge on roughly €5m, while CBS converts the same loss to $5.8m and the New York Times states more than $5m. No foreign outlet named a suspect or reported an arrest.

Antinori is among the labels that carry Italian wine abroad, and the estate's commercial weight is the reason the theft travelled so far beyond Tuscany in the wires. Foreign coverage framed it immediately as a record: the BBC called it one of the largest thefts of its kind in Italy, and France 24 headlined it as the country's biggest-ever wine heist. That framing matters for a producer whose export calendar, according to France 24, was the immediate context of the crime.

Seen from Rome and Brussels, the episode touches a sector that is a standing item in Italy's trade position with the rest of the world. Wine is one of the few Italian exports with a genuinely global premium, and the theft of a shipment-sized quantity of first-rate red is a reminder that the value of the country's food and drink brands is concentrated enough to be moved in two truckloads. The wire does not support any further claim about the financial effect on the company or on Italian wine exports, and none should be inferred.

What the foreign press has not reported is equally clear: no foreign outlet has described the security arrangements at the estate, the route the trucks took, or whether the bottles were destined for a specific market. The Guardian, the BBC, the New York Times, France 24, CBS News and The Local Italy all rest on the company's statement. Until Italian investigators say more — and that account has not reached the international wires — the size of the gang and the final value of the loss remain the two figures the world's newsrooms are still reconciling.