Three priceless paintings stolen from the Magnani Rocca Foundation in Mamiano di Traversetolo (Parma).

This is a work   Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir's multimillion-dollar "Les Poissons," one of the artist's rare works in a permanent collection in Italy, also features. Also in the French Room on the upper floor are Cézanne's "Still Life with Cherries," painted in 1890, and Matisse's "Odalisque on a Terrace," an aquatint on paper from 1922.

The Carabinieri are investigating.

The thieves acted "within less than three minutes, not spontaneously, but rather within a structured and organized context." This is what the Magnani Rocca Foundation, when contacted, stated, limiting itself to a brief statement due to "the peremptory requirements imposed by investigators." It speaks of "an evident, planned functional division of the serious illegal activities, which, however, were not completed due to the activation of the protection systems and thanks to the prompt intervention of internal security, the Carabinieri, and the security institute, to whom we extend our most sincere thanks for their courage and promptness."

The Magnani Rocca Foundation is one of Italy's most important art institutions. The Villa dei Capolavori houses the art collection of the critic, musicologist, and writer Luigi Magnani (1906-1984): works by Titian, Dürer, Rubens, Goya, Canova, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, Burri, and the most significant collection of works by Giorgio Morandi. Nestled in the Parma countryside, the Villa retains the charm of a great collector's home, with Neoclassical and Empire furnishings, surrounded by a Romantic Park with exotic plants, monumental trees, and the famous white and multicolored peacocks, emblems of the Symbolist movement.

(Unioneonline)

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