Three masterpieces have been stolen from an Italian gallery, police revealed on Monday. The gang of thieves took just 180 seconds to steal paintings by Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse worth £8.7m (€10m) in a heist from a museum in Italy.
Italian police say on Sunday March 22 four masked men entered the Magnani Rocca Foundation villa near Parma and made off with the masterpieces in just three minutes. The paintings taken in the smash and grab were Les Poissons by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Still Life with Cherries by Paul Cézanne and Odalisque on the Terrace by Henri Matisse. Using crowbars to prise open metal bars that protected a back entrance to the gallery, the gang escaped by climbing over a fence.
“The criminals struck in less than three minutes, not in an impromptu manner but in a well-organised way,” the museum said.
Stealing paintings from the French Room on the first floor, the thieves involved in the robbery forced their way through the main door to the Villa dei Capolavori.
The criminals were only interrupted by the museum’s alarm system, preventing them from stealing more.
Officials described the group as « structured and organised » and believe they had intentions to steal more but their raid was cut short when alarms went off with the police racing to the scene.
However, by the time they arrived the thieves had escaped but the masked men left behind a fourth painting that they had taken from the walls of the gallery. That artwork has not been identified.
The haul was valued at just over £8m, with Les Poissons alone worth £5m, making it one of Italy’s most significant art heists in recent memory.
Authorities are now reviewing the museum’s surveillance footage, along with recordings from nearby businesses. The theft is being investigated by Italy’s Carabinieri and the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Bologna. News of the heist was only made public on Sunday.
This brazen theft comes less than six months after a gang of thieves broke into the Louvre in Paris and stole some of the museum’s crown jewels. The shocking daylight heist making off with the royal jewels believed to be worth €88 million (£76 million).
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