[June 2025] On the final day of our short trip to Italy‘s Emilia-Romagna region, after checking out, we returned to the town of Carpi, where we’d not yet had enough time to explore the day before.
Our main destination was the cathedral, located at the end of the vast square, Piazza dei Martiri.
Officially named Santa Maria Assunta, construction began in 1514.
Alberto Pio, a humanist and lord of the Pio family who ruled here, began construction with the intention of developing Carpi into a Renaissance city.
However, Alberto became embroiled in the conflict between the Holy Roman Empire and France (the Italian Wars) and supported the French, forcing him into exile.
The Este family, who later ruled Carpi, did not value the city, so construction of the cathedral remained unfinished.
Construction finally resumed in the 18th century, during a period of political stability under the Este family, and the church took on its current appearance.
The exterior is pink, apparently because the locally sourced bricks used have lightened over time.
The interior is dominated by yellow.
The large dome is beautiful.
When we entered, the organ was playing, and at first I thought it was a recorded music to create an ambiance, but it turned out someone was actually practicing.
To the left of the altar was a very old-looking organ.
It was apparently built in 1540.
However, the reason it didn’t look that old overall was that, like the church in Correggio, it was renovated to be earthquake-resistant after the 2012 earthquake and opened to the public in 2017.
We were lucky to be able to enjoy this beautiful church along with the beautiful music.
By the way, before coming here, we also came across a very large church on the way from the car park.
I was intrigued by its exterior, with holes in the brickwork, but it was closed for renovations.
My husband told me that Emilia-Romagna is one of Italy’s most religious regions, but also a region with a strong left-wing political presence.
He told me that there was once a TV drama centred around an argument between a priest and a Communist mayor.
It highlighted the ideological differences between the two, but they were united in their desire to improve the village, and it was a humorous, human drama.
After researching, I found out that it was a dramatization of the novel “Don Camillo and Peppone,” set in a fictional village in Emilia-Romagna, and aptly depicts the state of the region after the war.
