Italian authorities have successfully retrieved three stolen paintings by renowned French artists Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, which were taken from a museum near Parma earlier this year. Carabinieri officers discovered the artworks in an apartment in Parma and have initiated an investigation involving nine individuals from Moldova in connection with the theft.
The paintings, with an estimated value exceeding €9 million ($14.4 million), were stolen from the Fondazione Magnani Rocca museum in Mamiano di Traversetolo during the night of March 22-23. The recovered pieces include Cezanne’s “Tasse et Plat de Cerises,” Renoir’s “Les Poissons,” and Matisse’s “Odalisque sur la Terrasse.”
In a video released by the police, two masked burglars were seen entering through a window, swiftly removing the three paintings from the wall, and making a quick exit from the museum, completing the operation in less than three minutes. The Fondazione Magnani Rocca is known for housing a private collection curated by the late music critic Luigi Magnani, featuring works by prominent artists such as Titian, Francisco Goya, Claude Monet, and Giorgio Morandi.