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Thieves made off with three paintings by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Cézanne and Henri Matisse from the Fondazione Magnani Rocca, a private museum near Parma, Italy, in a raid on the night of March 22-23.
Italian police and the Carabinieri’s Cultural Heritage Protection Unit said four masked burglars forced open an entrance, entered a first-floor gallery and grabbed Renoir’s Les Poissons, Cézanne’s Tasse et Plat de Cerises (Still Life with Cherries) and Matisse’s Odalisque on the Terrace before fleeing across the museum gardens and scaling a fence.
Local media and the foundation said the operation took less than three minutes; the alarm was triggered and a fourth work was reportedly abandoned.
The stolen works are valued at about €9 million (roughly $10 million), according to broadcasters.
Authorities are examining CCTV and nearby surveillance footage; no arrests have been reported.
The foundation described the theft as “structured and organised.” Investigators are treating the case alongside a recent surge in high‑profile European museum robberies, including last year’s Louvre jewels heist.
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A rapid three‑minute raid on a rural private villa museum with no night guards underscores vulnerability at smaller institutions. Because world‑famous canvases are nearly unsellable publicly, they will likely be hidden for private display or destroyed, prompting tighter security and possible reductions in public access.






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