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Local authorities are investigating an overnight heist at an Italian museum after a band of thieves made off with three major French paintings. On March 22, four masked men broke into the Magnani Rocca Foundation<\/a> and nabbed masterpieces by Henri Matisse, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Paul C\u00e9zanne. The break-in, which took roughly three minutes, was publicly disclosed on Monday.<\/p>\n The burglary unfolded in the countryside outside Parma, where the private museum houses a collection assembled by the late art historian Luigi Magnani. Authorities say the thieves forced entry, made their way to a first-floor gallery of French works, and escaped through the surrounding gardens.<\/p>\n The stolen works were Renoir\u2019s Les Poissons, estimated at \u20ac6 million (around $6.9 million), as well as Matisse\u2019s Odalisque on the Terrace and C\u00e9zanne\u2019s Still Life with Cherries. Together, the paintings are valued at roughly \u20ac9 million ($10.3 million), according to the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a statement, per the Italian news agency ANSA<\/a>, the foundation described the operation as \u201cstructured and organized.\u201d It also noted that the plan was ultimately \u201cnot completed\u201d due to the activation of alarm systems and the swift response of law enforcement. Italy\u2019s Carabinieri, a military police force, is leading the investigation along with the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of Bologna.<\/p>\n The incident follows a major break-in at the Louvre<\/a> back in October. During that robbery, thieves struck in broad daylight<\/a>, escaping in under eight minutes with jewelry and artifacts reportedly worth around $102 million.<\/p>\n The theft at the Magnani Rocca Foundation presents a different challenge. While stolen jewels can be dismantled and resold, classic paintings are much harder to move. \u201cThe pictures stolen only have value if they are kept intact as artworks. They have no financial value if destroyed in the way that the jewelry stolen in Paris would, as gold and gems,\u201d James Ratcliffe, the director of recoveries and general counsel at the Art Loss Register, said in a statement to Artnet<\/a>. He suggested that the burglars might attempt to extract a ransom or capitalize on a reward for information leading to recovery.<\/p>\n