Italian authorities announced the successful recovery of three valuable paintings by renowned French artists Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, which were stolen from a museum close to Parma earlier this year. The Carabinieri officers, part of Italy’s cultural heritage protection unit, located the stolen artworks in an apartment in Parma, leading to the investigation of nine Moldovan individuals linked to the theft.
The stolen paintings, including Cézanne’s “Tasse et Plat de Cerises,” Renoir’s “Les Poissons,” and Matisse’s “Odalisque sur la Terrasse,” were taken from the Fondazione Magnani Rocca museum in Mamiano di Traversetolo during the night of March 22-23. Art experts estimated the combined value of the recovered artworks at over €9 million ($14.4 million).
Video footage released by the police captured the swift theft, showing two masked burglars entering through a window, seizing the paintings from the wall, and swiftly exiting the premises in a meticulously executed operation lasting less than three minutes. The Fondazione Magnani Rocca museum is renowned for its private collection, curated by the late music critic Luigi Magnani, which includes masterpieces by artists such as Titian, Francisco Goya, Claude Monet, and Giorgio Morandi.