Five months after the sensational theft at the Magnani Rocca Foundation in Mamiano di Traversetolo, in the Parma area, the three masterpieces stolen in less than 3 minutes were recovered by the Carabinieri. The works, signed by Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse, have a total estimated value of more than 9 million euros.
The recovered works are “Still Life with Cherries” by Paul Cézanne, with an estimated value of 6 million euros, “Les Poissons” by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, valued at around 3 million, and “Odalisque on the Terrace” by Henri Matisse, with a value of around 20 thousand euros.
@Carabinieri
The recovery occurred at the end of a complex investigative activity conducted by the Carabinieri of the Operational Section of the Parma Company, by the Provincial Command and by the specialists of the Cultural Heritage Protection Command, as part of a series of searches ordered by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Parma.
Nine under investigation for the theft of the masterpieces
There are currently nine people under investigation, all of Moldovan nationality, who are also accused of the crime of criminal association. According to initial reconstructions, it would be a group of professional robbers, but not specialized in the art market. The strong media attention aroused by the theft would have in fact made receiving the paintings very difficult. During their escape, the gang had also abandoned a fourth work, the Renoir “Paysage de Cagnes”. Among the elements at the center of the investigation is also a stolen tractor, used as a battering ram to break down the entrance gate of the villa.
Now the investigations continue to clarify every further detail of the story, while at the same time those on the theft which occurred on 15 August at the “Accascina” Regional Museum in Messina, where four works attributed to Antonello da Messina were stolen, continue. In the meantime, the Sicilian Region has decided to transfer the four custodians who were on duty at the MuMe when the thieves went into action.
