Two men wearing head torches climbed through a forced-open window at the Fondazione Magnani Rocca museum near Parma on the night of March 22 and calmly lifted artworks by Cézanne, Renoir and Matisse from the walls.
Within three minutes, they had passed the works, valued at about €9 million ($10 million), to an accomplice and fled. At the museum's main gate, a fourth man discharged a fire extinguisher when the alarm sounded, distracting the custodian.
"Whatever could go wrong, did," said Stefano Roffi, director of the private foundation that runs the museum.
The raid was one of a string of museum thefts in France, Italy and Spain since last year's heist at the Louvre in Paris, raising concerns that criminals are increasingly targeting smaller institutions with fewer resources to protect valuable collections.
"This is where we see the 'Louvre effect'," said Marc Balcells, a Barcelona-based researcher specialising in crimes against cultural heritage. "If the Louvre was so easy to rob, just imagine a tiny museum in a rural area or a smaller town."
Works by Antonello da Messina vanished from a museum in his Sicilian hometown in August, while two Renoirs were stolen from Cagnes-sur-Mer on the French Riviera the following month.
In Spain, thieves stole hundreds of historic gold coins from museums in Badajoz and Albacete and made off with a Bronze Age treasure in Villena, near Alicante.
A 2024 survey by France's Culture Ministry found only one in four cultural institutions had an emergency and risk-prevention plan, while nearly half lacked video surveillance.
Who checks when the alarm goes off?
A French parliamentary report in May said museums lacked the resources and preparation to adequately protect artworks and artefacts.
In Italy, the challenge is amplified by the way the country's cultural heritage is spread across hundreds of towns and institutions, a legacy of centuries of fragmented rule.
"That is also what makes our system distinctive: works remain in the places where they were created,” said Antonella Pinna, president of the Italian committee of the International Council of Museums. "But we need to make life harder for criminals."
The council worked with Italy's Culture Ministry and the Carabinieri on museum security guidelines published in 2015, but Pinna said technology alone was not enough.
"If an alarm goes off, someone has to make sure it is checked," she said.
In a narrow street in the Tuscan town of Sansepolcro, the civic museum displays four works by Renaissance master Piero della Francesca, born just steps away in the 15th century.
The Louvre theft "affected us deeply because cultural heritage is central to Sansepolcro's identity. It is our soul," culture councillor Francesca Mercati told Reuters.
After the Louvre raid, officers from the Carabinieri's cultural heritage protection unit recommended more cameras, longer retention of CCTV footage and tighter controls on bags and bulky clothing.
"We immediately implemented those recommendations," Mercati said.
A vast network to protect
The scale of the challenge is daunting.
Italy has more than 4,400 museums and similar institutions, according to national statistics agency ISTAT. Spain has about 1,500 museums, while France has more than 1,200 institutions carrying the official "Musees de France" designation, alongside hundreds of smaller collections.
Protecting such a broad network is particularly difficult for smaller institutions that depend on local funding.
Florence Imbert, a Paris-based security consultant for cultural institutions, said 85 percent of small French museums were run by local authorities with limited financial resources.
"The budget is key to winning the war," she said.
France's Culture Ministry announced a 33-point security plan in July, backed by €30 million over three years for local museums.
Recent figures suggest concern is warranted. The Carabinieri art squad recorded 17 thefts from Italian museums and galleries in 2025, up from 14 a year earlier.
Europol said in an August report that museum thefts were becoming more forceful and increasingly focused on precious metals, gemstones and other high-value artefacts.
A fast buck?
Unlike jewellery, stolen famous paintings are difficult to sell openly and are more likely to be hidden, used in ransom attempts or offered privately, art expert Pinna said.
Even recovered works can leave museums facing substantial investigation, recovery and security costs.
Recent thefts have also renewed debate over insurance, with some museums reassessing their coverage.
Insurers are meanwhile exploring AI technology to analyse CCTV footage and help identify suspicious behaviour before thefts occur.
Security vs access
Museum officials face the challenge of improving security while keeping collections accessible to the public.
Julien Volper, a Belgian conservator, said vulnerable treasures should only be displayed when adequate protection is in place.
Italian police recovered three artworks stolen from a Parma museum in August from a cardboard box hidden in an apartment.
Five Moldovan nationals were arrested over the theft. The artworks have since returned to the museum, which now has round-the-clock security funded by a local cheese consortium.
