Italy has recovered three paintings worth more than $10 million that were stolen during a nighttime heist at a private museum near Parma, police said Friday.
The Carabinieri’s art recovery unit said searches ordered by prosecutors led to the recovery of the paintings: Paul Cézanne’s Still Life with Cherries, Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Fish, and Henri Matisse’s Odalisque on the Terrace.
Officials did not explain how the works were located and did not say whether any suspects had been detained. The Italian news agency ANSA reported that nine people are under investigation, but police have not confirmed that figure. The Cezanne is valued at about $7 million, the Renoir at $3.5 million, and the Matisse at $23,000.
Two masked men carried out the heist overnight on March 22 and 23 at the Magnani Rocca Foundation, a museum about twelve miles from Parma. Security video showed the men breaking in, pulling the three paintings off a wall, and leaving within minutes.
Italy’s heist recovery of paintings draws reaction from curator
Stefano Roffi, who oversees the foundation’s collection, told ANSA that the theft had upset the staff and the recovery of the paintings called for a celebration. He said works this famous are hard for thieves to sell without getting caught.
Grazie ai Carabinieri del Comando Tutela Patrimonio Culturale e del Comando Provinciale di Parma per il recupero delle tre opere di Cézanne, Renoir e Matisse sottratte alla Fondazione Magnani Rocca. Un’operazione che conferma l’eccellenza italiana nella Tutela. pic.twitter.com/0XQ2R1502R
— Alessandro Giuli (@AlessGiuli) August 14, 2026
The foundation was founded in the 1970s by the collector Luigi Magnani. Its collection also includes paintings by Goya, Titian, Durer, and Van Dyck, along with works by the Italian painter Giorgio Morandi.
The Parma heist followed a run of high-profile European museum thefts this year, and Italy recovered its paintings faster than many of those other cases. Five months earlier, thieves broke into the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery in Paris during the day and stole eight pieces of crown jewelry worth more than $100 million.
In a separate case, police in Brazil said Thursday they had recovered eight Matisse illustrations stolen from a library in Sao Paulo last December. The works, made for the book “Jazz,” are worth about $200,000 combined.
Missing Portinari engravings still unaccounted for after robbery
Two men carried out that robbery on the final day of an exhibit, overpowering a security guard and an elderly couple before fleeing on foot. Investigators believe the theft was ordered by Laessio Rodrigues de Oliveira, described by police as one of Brazil’s most prominent art thieves. He has been jailed since April in an unrelated case.
Police found the illustrations at a home in Sao Bernardo do Campo, outside Sao Paulo, still in good condition. Photos released by police showed the artwork laid on a bed next to a revolver belonging to Joao Paulo Linhares de Araujo, who was arrested at the scene and accused of storing the works for others involved in the theft. Three other suspects had been arrested earlier.
The library got its illustrations back Thursday. Five engravings by the Brazilian artist Candido Portinari, stolen in the same robbery, are still missing. Police believe they may have already been sold.
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