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Three-Minute Heist at Italian Museum Nets Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse Works

Italian art police are investigating using seized surveillance footage with suspects still at large.

Overview

  • Four masked men stole three paintings from the Magnani Rocca Foundation near Parma in the night of March 22–23 in a raid that lasted under three minutes.
  • The gang forced a door to reach the first-floor French Room, then fled across the gardens as alarms sounded, and a fourth work was left behind.
  • The Parma Carabinieri and Italy’s Cultural Heritage Protection Unit are reviewing surveillance video with no arrests announced.
  • Police and the museum kept the theft quiet for several days as the galleries stayed open to improve chances of catching a possible return.
  • Italian media estimate the haul at about €9 million, led by Renoir’s oil on canvas, in a case linked to a wider run of rapid European museum raids including the Louvre jewel theft last October.