Italian police recover stolen paintings as thieves strike museum in Sicily
Italian authorities retrieved three high-value artworks stolen from a museum near Parma, while a separate robbery in Messina, Sicily, resulted in the theft of four panels by Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina.
Italian police announced on Friday that they had recovered three paintings taken from the Magnani Rocca Foundation, a private museum near Parma, during a March burglary. The haul, valued at roughly $10 million, included Paul Cézanne’s Still Life with Cherries, Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Les Poissons and a Henri Matisse aquatint. The recovery was credited to the Carabinieri and a specialist cultural-heritage unit, though officials provided few additional details and the investigation remains open.
The following night, on Italy’s Ferragosto holiday, thieves bypassed the alarm system at Messina’s Museo Interdisciplinare Regionale (MuMe) and stole four wooden panels by Antonello da Messina, including three from the Polittico di San Gregorio altarpiece and a double-sided painting of the Virgin and Child and Christ. The panels are the only works by the 15th-century artist that had never left his hometown. Authorities said nine Moldovan nationals are under investigation for the March theft, noting their limited knowledge of the art market.
The two robberies add to a series of art thefts reported across Europe since early 2025, prompting cooperation between the International Council of Museums and Interpol. Recent incidents have included a swift looting of the Louvre’s Apollo Gallery and a blast-driven theft at the Netherlands’ Drents Museum.