My opening tale from Italy in this 2025/26 season was from a match between Sambenedettese and Carpi. It was the first time I had seen the visiting team from Emilia-Romagna, and seeing a game at their stadium suddenly appeared in lights as the last of the “big” grounds missing off my viewing roster from that region. From Fiorenzuola in the north of Emilia-Romagna (an unlikely venue which hosted Football Weekends solitary Italian gig so far), down in a diagonal line though Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, Imola, Forli, Cesena to Rimini. Then, the eastern seaboard offshoots of Ravenna and the troubled side S.P.A.L from Ferrara. Carpi was the last professional side to be viewed, the 12th man, if you will.
Samb versus Carpi was on the first weekend of a five week sojourn I had organised to get more than my regular fill of Italian cuisine, culture and of course calcio. I had flown Edinburgh to Bari directly, and nudged north initially for that clash in San Benedetto Del Tronto. By the conclusion of my trip, deep into autumn, the return option from Bari was off roster. I opted for the seven hour fast train from Brindisi, my base to Bologna, to fly home the next day. I would arrive in the Emilia-Romagna capital in the early evening on a Monday, and just out of curiosity a couple of days ahead of that trip north I found myself having a peek at what games were on offer that evening, principally with the notion that Rai, the national broadcaster always show third tier game live that night.
Well, to my great delight, Carpi versus Ascoli was on offer. I knew well enough that it wasn’t so far from Modena, and trains between here and Bologna run quite late. The latin phrase Carpe Diem could not have been apt, I was going to seize the day. I bought a ticket for the game, did the Google Map notes on how far from the railway station, etc. All I needed was an on time arrival in Bologna, lose my luggage at the hotel across the road and Carpi here I come.
Everything ran exactly to plan, with the exception of a truly miserable night of rain. My seat at the game was undercover, a little drop of water never stops a football fan, does it? A direct train was running from Bologna to Carpi, ultimately headed to Mantova, which made the outward journey even easier. To my great delight, despite having an umbrella in hand, alighting in Carpi saw the tap from the sky turned off, always a welcome sight.
If I had been lucky that my last night in Italy would not only host a game but conclude my Emilia-Romagnan odyssey of stadia, the notion that the ground was within easy striking distance of the train station was another bounce, especially for a tight departure at the end. Alas, that aspect became a little more complicated courtesy of the away end being the Curva that is nearest my arrival point. Of course, roads were shut naturally (sic). I had to double back and end around (as the Americans say in Gridiron speak) practically the entire ground to reach the only access point for home fans to the Tribuna and Curva alike. It meant a little extra time would be needed on the post-match fast walk, but hey, it would be worth it.
I am sure Carpi is a nice city. As you’ll appreciate, I arrived in the dark and didn’t have time to soak up any culture that it may offer ahead of the match. With a population of 73,000, it has the resources to host a club at this level easily, but as we’ll discover AC Carpi have been on a magical tour of the higher levels in the not too distant past.
The name Carpi is derived from Carpinus, a tree (hornbeam), which was widespread especially in medieval times. There is a whiff of Mantova and Ferrara about Carpi, both in relatively near proximity. The Duomo wouldn’t be out of place in Piazza Sordello in Mantova, and Palazzo dei Pio is almost a carbon copy of the Estense castle in Ferrara. As Not the Nine o’Clock News once coined, “traces of horlicks in the donkey”, a phrase I have long been wishing to bring to a wider audience!
Having been going since 1909, a first attempt at reaching Serie B in 1997 came up just short, losing to Monza in the promotion play offs. Whether pushing the glass ceiling that season had extended the budget too high for a shot at glory, I am unsure, but by 2000, the club were relegated to the fourth tier and declared bankrupt.
Not for the first time in Italy, from the ashes comes a white knight, only this particular knight probably didn’t expect the club to go from the Emilia-Romagna Eccellenza (Highest regional league -5th tier) to Serie A in a fifteen year period, but that is exactly the story the fans of Carpi can relay to you over a coldie anytime you want to ask!
Serie B was finally hit for the first time in 2013, 16 years after that fatal last attempt. They defeated Lecce in the promotion final to clinch a third promotion in four seasons. Maybe that old clique, success breeds confidence just refused to go away, because after a respectable 12th place finish in their first term in the second tier, they followed that by basically blowing away the entire Serie B roster, finishing the 2014/15 season as Champions, nine clear points.
Serie B that season was a troubled land, when is it not I hear you cry. After last term’s throwing of Brescia under the bus to save Sampdoria, anything can happen, and nothing has really changed. Just over a decade ago, Varese were still a well established team, but they were deducted points and declared bankrupt at the end of that campaign. A proud name in Lombardian football still hasn’t managed to get any higher the Serie D on the road back. Catania, an even bigger name with a colossal support base down in Sicily were relegated for match fixing.
I am a keen follower of the Italian game as you know, but researching this story and that particular ‘14/15 campaign, seeing the names Latina and Virtus Lanciano in middle table of the second tier is quite a shock to me. How could I have forgotten these you sides had resided in Serie B little over a decade ago, albeit, having checked, Lanciano went the Varese way the following term, declared bankrupt.
Anyway, Carpi’s “surprise” promotion to Serie A meant the club’s velodrome stadium of old, the Sandro Cabassi (capacity 5,500), wasn’t top flight standard. The answer was a little distance down the tracks in Modena, where the rich city of fast cars and balsamic oils had a fine 21,000 modern stadium waiting for use. In a crazy campaign, largely off the field, with Chris Turner-esque shenanigans, sacking the hero of promotion, manager Fabrizio Castori, before bringing him back later in the campaign. Meantime, despite being in the bottom three all season, Carpi ended up third from bottom, just one solitary point away from safety. Meanwhile, poor Modena, who had the ignominy of hosting another club at a higher level, were still doing it 12 months later, as they slipped into the third tier while Carpi were in B.
When Carpi headed to the San Siro to hold AC Milan to a goalless draw, the match is more remembered for a troupe of actors donning AC shirts and doing a “haka” -esque dance for a promotional TV advert.
Carpi remains one of only three sides that have enjoyed just one top flight campaign. Curiously, the other two, Treviso (2005/06), and the pioneers of solitary goes, Pistoiese (1980/81), both lead their respective Serie D league tables, and may well re-join the professional ranks.
In a history almost repeating itself scenario, the calamitous ‘97 Serie C play off loss played out again after missing out on an immediate return to the top flight, losing to Benevento in the final of ’16/17. Within a few months of that coming up short of the trees experience, the club was bankrupt once more, and the current incumbents, who are back in the third tier for a second season, are the phoenix from the ashes of that debacle.
With all that weighty tale of recent glory, the current Carpi side has a lot to live up to. They looked useful against a shot shy Samb, and the notion that they are an evolving team, who might have something in the tank for a crack at promotion continued here.
Ascoli were in town, a side who I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to watch, but given the “take it or leave it” nature of this gift from the scheduling gods, beggars couldn’t be choosers. What’s wrong with Ascoli I hear you cry? Well, aside from being the serious rivals of Ancona and the aforementioned Sambenedettese, let’s just say, if you love a WWII German Tank brigade flag following your team around, no one is stopping you, but count me out. Indeed, high on the away terrace above the old velodrome track, amidst the soggy visiting fans, not only were such flags detected, but also a London Ascoli flag!
The visitors had been going along nicely, and had only conceded one goal going into this late October clash. Arezzo and Ravenna, the latter a club just up from the fourth tier, and having been plucked from the reprecharge for winning the Coppa Italia D, despite trailing badly behind Forli, had more than seized the day, both were ahead of Ascoli in the standings.
It was a lively game. Both sides created numerous chances, but a combination of poor finishing and fine keeping meant that the game was going into the last 15 minutes scoreless. It never felt like a 0-0 game, and eventually, Carpi found a way through to lead with just 13 minutes to go. I am sure we have all been here, the clock is ticking, too many incidences of trainers on the pitch meant that the conclusion of the game was going to be around the time my train needed to pull out of the station, so with five minutes to go, I headed off.
What subsequently happened was a late Ascoli equaliser, and frustratingly, while the train arrived on time, it then sat on the platform for ten minutes! However, I was quite chuffed that I had missed the Ascoli goal! This was my third Ascoli game, and I had never seen them score, and in absentia, while the game ended 1-1, my memory banks will have nothing to recall of the Marche sides equaliser. Italian football, with its fiefdoms and petty grumblings, makes sure local rivalries are fierce. The “smaller” ones like Livorno v Pisa; Atalanta v Brescia; Ancona or Sambenedettese v Ascoli, they mean so much, eclipsing any rivalry, anywhere you care to think of, truly!
It had been an entertaining game to bring the curtain down on my five week trip to bella Italia. It started with Carpi and ended in Carpi, a conclusion that rounded the circle nicely.
Football Adventures with James Rendall 