Carpi

Carpi, a town and episcopal see of Emilia, Italy, in the province of Modena, 9 m. N.N.W. by rail from the town of Modena. Pop. (1905) 7118 (town), 27,135 (commune). It is the junction of a branch line to Reggio nell’ Emilia via Correggio, and the centre of a fertile agricultural district. Carpi contains several Renaissance buildings of interest, the façade of the old cathedral (an early Romanesque building in origin, with some early 15th-century frescoes), the new cathedral (after 1513), perhaps the nave of S. Niccolò and a palace, all being by Baldassare Peruzzi: while the prince’s palace (with a good court and a chapel containing frescoes by Bernardino Loschi of Parma, 1489-1540) and the colonnades opposite the theatre are also good. These, and the fortifications, are all due to Alberto Pio of Carpi, a pupil of Aldus Manutius, expelled in 1525 by Charles V., the principality being given to the house of Este.