08 July 2026 Romanian police have returned 10 paintings worth more than EUR 90,000 to the Italian authorities after recovering the artworks during an investigation into an international art theft case. The paintings had been stolen from a home in northern Italy in 2024 before being illegally brought to Romania, the authorities said. The artworks were formally handed over on July 7 by the Romanian Police's Criminal Investigations Directorate to representatives of the Italian Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, following an investigation coordinated by the Prosecutor's Office attached to the Constanța Tribunal. The investigation began after Romanian criminal investigators received information that the paintings, suspected to originate from crimes committed in Italy,