Italy’s elite art police squad recovers millions worth in famed paintings

Italian police have recovered three paintings by some of the art world's most renowned masters that were stolen earlier this year from a private museum near the northern Italian city of Parma.

The works by Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Henri Matisse were recovered during searches ordered by prosecutors, according to a statement from the Italian Carabinieri's art recovery squad, cited by Italian media. 

The authorities did not provide further details about where the paintings were found or whether arrests had been made.

The recovered works are Cézanne's Still Life with Cherries, which authorities valued at around $7 million; Renoir's Fish, valued at approximately $3.5 million; and Matisse's Odalisque on the Terrace, valued at around $23,000.

The three paintings were stolen overnight on March 22-23 from the Magnani Rocca Foundation, located about 19 kilometres from Parma.

Security footage released by police at the time showed two masked burglars entering the museum through a window, removing the three paintings from the walls and immediately fleeing the building. The entire operation took less than three minutes.

The robbery was among a series of high-profile art and cultural-heritage thefts from European museums in recent years, which include the January 2025 break-in at the Drents Museum in the Netherlands, where burglars stole ancient Dacian artefacts from Romania worth an estimated €6 million; the theft of Chinese porcelain worth several million euros from the Musée national Adrien-Dubouché in Limoges, France; and the notorious October 2025 robbery at the Louvre in Paris, where historic jewellery worth more than €88 million remains missing.

Matisse works recovered in Brazil

The recovery in Italy coincided with another significant development involving works by Matisse, with Brazilian authorities recovering eight illustrations stolen from a library in 2025.

The illustrations were created for Jazz, Matisse's limited-edition artist's book, and have a combined estimated value of around $200,000.

The works were stolen on the final day of an exhibition. According to Brazilian authorities, two thieves overpowered a security guard and an elderly couple visiting the library before fleeing on foot with the artworks.

Brazilian police said they believe the theft was commissioned by Laéssio Rodrigues de Oliveira, 53, who is regarded as one of the country's most prominent art thieves.

Oliveira has been in custody since April following his arrest in connection with another case.

The simultaneous recovery of the Matisse works in Brazil and the three European masterpieces in Italy highlights the continuing efforts by specialised police units around the world to track down stolen artworks, which can remain hidden for years after highly publicised museum robberies.

By Nazrin Sadigova