Italian authorities have recovered three valuable paintings by masters Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Matisse, which were stolen from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation near Parma in March. The artworks, collectively valued at over €9 million (approximately £7.7 million), were taken in a swift heist that lasted just 180 seconds.
Video footage captured two thieves wearing balaclavas and head torches forcing entry through a museum window. They quickly removed the paintings – Renoir's "Fish" (valued at £2.6 million), Cézanne's "Still Life with Cherries" (valued at £5.1 million), and Matisse's "Odalisque on the Terrace" (valued at £17,000) – from the walls. The works were then passed out through the same window to an accomplice waiting outside.
Italian police announced on Friday that five Moldovan nationals had been arrested in connection with the theft. The stolen artworks were discovered concealed in the cardboard packaging of a flat-screen television in a house in Parma.
Investigation into the Heist
Investigators believe the thieves employed a jammer device to disable the museum's alarm system. However, the jammer's effectiveness reportedly ceased as they fled the scene, triggering the security alert and alerting authorities.
A diversion tactic used by the perpetrators, involving a fire extinguisher deployed near the security lodge, proved instrumental in the investigation. Although the serial number had been removed from the extinguisher, prosecutors were able to trace its origin, suggesting the suspects had access to the building from which it was stolen. Police also identified a tool used to break the museum window, tracing it back to the shop where it was purchased.
Further investigation involved wiretaps and surveillance of the suspects, who were found to have been primarily involved in robberies of shops and offices. This led to raids on 13 addresses, culminating in the recovery of the artworks.
The Magnani-Rocca Foundation, located approximately 12 miles from Parma, houses the art collection of historian Luigi Magnani, which features works by artists such as Albrecht Dürer, Francisco Goya, and Claude Monet. This incident follows a series of high-profile art thefts in major European museums, including a significant jewellery heist at the Louvre in Paris in October of the previous year.