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<img height='275' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/1717.jpg'> 
50th Anniversary of the Establishment of the 
Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit 
Scott 1717 (2019)</center>
 
On April 29, 2019, Vatican City, Italy and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta jointly issued souvenir sheets honoring the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit. The sheets were essentially identical, with slight variations to distinguish the issuing authority. The line below the stamp and labels reads "Alcune Importante Opere Recuperate", which translates to "Some Important Works Recovered".
 
Why are we looking at this today?
 
Last Friday, the Carabinieri announced the recovery of three masterpieces that had been taken during a brazen theft from the museum at the Magnani Rocca Foundation, located in Mamiano di Traversetolo near Parma. On the night of March 22-23, 2026, thieves forced their way into the museum, grabbed the artwork in under three minutes, and fled through the museum gardens. The paintings taken were by Paul Cézanne (“Still Life with Cherries”, valued at roughly $7 million), Auguste Renoir (“Poissons” (“Fish”), valued at roughly $3.5 million) and Henri Matisse (“Odalisque on the Terrace”, valued at roughly $23,000). The Carabinieri art-recovery unit uncovered the paintings in an apartment in Parma, and nine individuals, identified as Moldovan nationals, have been placed under formal investigation by prosecutors.
 
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<img height='275' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Tasse_et_plat_de_cerises%2C_par_Paul_C%C3%A9zanne.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=original'> 
"Still Life with Cherries" by Paul Cézanne (circa 1890) 
From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain</center>
 
The souvenir sheet, and last week’s successful recovery of the stolen paintings from Parma, bring attention to the work of the Heritage Protection Unit, whose mandate is the security of Italy’s cultural heritage, through the protection of its cultural assets, the recovery of stolen material, and support of scientific and educational materials related to them.
 
The souvenir sheet at the top of the page depicts some of the many stolen art works recovered, thanks to the intervention of the Unit. The €5.40 stamp shows Mantegna's “Holy Family”, and four of the five letter seals present additional works that have been recovered: Raphael’s “La Muta" (“The Mute Woman”), a precious illuminated manuscript, Van Gogh's "The Gardener," and a Roman ivory mask. The bottom right seal shows the façade of the Palazzo Sant'Ignazio, headquarters of the command, which is located directly across from the Basilica di Sant'Ignazio in Rome. The selvage pictures a still-missing work, Caravaggio's "The Nativity", which was discussed in a recent Daily Email in July featuring the Baroque master.
 
REFERENCES: 
<li>TheGuardian.com, August 14, 2026, <a href='https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/aug/14/italian-police-recover-stolen-paintings-cezanne-renoir-matisse'>Italian police recover paintings by Cézanne, Renoir and Matisse after heist</a> 
<li>UFN, April 29, 2019, <a href='https://vaticanstamps.org/UFN/images/2019-2-11-1.jpg'>50th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit</a> 
<li>PosteVaticane.va, 2019, <a href='https://www.postevaticane.va/en/philatelic-issues/9-2019/142'>50th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Unit</a>
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search

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