In 2011, while I was living in Reggio Emilia, in Italy, I travelled around the region (and sometimes further) to discover new cities and enjoy the cheap train trips. In July that year, I decided to give Carpi a go. One of my friends had told me that it was cute. Also, I had read a story about a family setting up their GPS to go to Carpi instead of Capri and being quite disappointed, and I thought that it was funny.
Meeting A Stranger In The Train To Carpi
I had no real expectations about Carpi. The trip was €8.80 return and I thought that it could be a nice day out. First, I took the train from Reggio Emilia to Modena and then another to go to Carpi. When I arrived at the platform, I was a bit surprised, the train was really small and 20 minutes early (something very very rare with Trenitalia).
In the train, there was one young black guy and I asked him if it was the right train to go to Carpi. He said yes and, with a flirty smile, told me to sit in front of him. Even though I was a bit shy, I accepted. Later, I regretted it because he seemed to really want to chat, but didn’t have much to say. So, I told him a few things, even though he was not contributing much to the conversation.
At some point, he asked me if I had a car and I answered yes, but in France. At that moment, his face lit up and he exclaimed “Oh, but you speak French!“. “Yes“. “Me too! And I speak it much better than Italian, we can speak in French. I’m Senegalese, but I work in Italy…” That was it, it’s not that he didn’t have anything to say, he just wasn’t comfortable speaking in Italian. In reality, he was VERY chatty. His name was Az (shortened in this article), he was in Carpi because he had Senegalese friends working there.
Stepping Out Of My Comfort Zone And Not Regretting It
When we arrived in Carpi, we were still chatting, and he invited me to eat at his place. He said he lived in the city center and we could visit it after. I hesitated. I didn’t know him, I was a girl and alone. We walked to the main square of Carpi (which is enormous), and I realized that it was completely empty. It was a very hot day and it was 1pm. The city center was tiny, and I wondered what I could do there. There didn’t seem to be anything to see. So I thought about it, and I accepted Az’s invitation.
I followed him and arrived in a flat where Senegalese guys seemed to spontaneously appear. Every minute, a new one would pop into the room. They all seemed happy to meet me. They were delighted that I spoke French and each one of them told me their story. One had been a caterer in Paris, then a mechanic in Carpi. I felt a bit unsafe alone in a room with so many men. However, it felt like it was because we are conditioned to think that way, because of stories we hear and because of the warnings we all get when we are a girl travelling alone.
In reality, they were all nice and I found their conversations very interesting. They talked about the difficulty of integrating in Italy, about Italians rejecting everything foreign, and about the importance of a good education. That’s how, at 2pm, I ended up eating a strange omelet with 5 smiling Senegalese watching a Brazilian TV series dubbed in French. If someone had told me that a few hours earlier, I wouldn’t have believed them!
Culture Clash in Carpi
After a short break to digest, we went to visit the city center with Az and two of his friends. It took us only 30 minutes, and then, we went back to the flat. Another break. Then, I started to get bored. We went back to the center, and I realized why it wasn’t working between the Senegalese and Italian people. These are two very different cultures.
My Senegalese friends would say “hi” to everybody with a big smile and they would talk to children and adults. It might have worked in France, but it surely didn’t work in the North of Italy. Italians, not used to such familiarities, looked startled, as if they had been assaulted. I could see their surprised faces, they probably didn’t understand why these strangers would talk to them. In Italy, at least, in the places where I lived, people didn’t say “hi” to each other in the streets. Add to that the fact that there are not so many black people in this part of Italy and that there’s maybe a bit of racism, and you get some kind of culture clash. By trying to be friendly, my Senegalese friends would break untold codes and do the opposite of what they wanted to do.
I bought some postcards and decided to go back home. My housemate Patti wanted to take me to the mountain. Az walked with me to the train station and told me that he’d like to go to the United States. On the way, He told me that, when he was a child, he wanted to be like those Afro-Americans with their baggy trousers. I climbed on the train. No AC. Another trip melting on my seat. But that was the price to pay for cheap trains and I was happy about my unexpected fun day.
Another Trip To Carpi: The Cursed Concert
In 2009, I discovered the singer L’Aura and in 2011, I saw that she was doing a concert on July 27th in Carpi. To be honest, I rarely like Italian music, so I wanted to go. Another trainee wanted to come with me, and maybe some colleagues, so I bought a ticket.
First, I learned that, actually, neither the trainee nor my colleagues would go. Then, I saw that the last train from Carpi to Reggio Emilia was leaving an hour after the beginning of the concert. That meant I wouldn’t be able to come back. In the end, my housemate said he would come with a friend and I paid her ticket in exchange for transport in her car. On the morning before the concert, the weather forecast said that there would be torrential rain. Unfortunately, the concert was supposed to be outside. We hesitated a lot, but decided to go anyway.
There were very few people. A lot of gay couples. I didn’t know that L’Aura was an icon for gays. Or was it the band Joan As Police Woman that played the second part? (It was.) The concert started with an unknown band from Carpi. It felt like some kind of intro. It was ok, but I was impatient to see L’Aura. After that, Joan As Police Woman went on stage. Still ok, but a bit long in my opinion. I went to the bathroom and, when I came back, my friends told me the concert was finished! What? They had cancelled L’Aura and had not warned anyone. And of course, impossible to get a refund! I felt really unlucky, but at the same time, I was in good company, and the music was not bad, so I just let it go.
Such a long article to tell you about a tiny city where there’s nothing to do! All of that to say that, sometimes, the most unexpected adventures happen in the smallest places. 😉
FYI: there is a monument to the concentration camps of Jewish deportees in Carpi, so there are some monuments to see. Plus, the city is cute, so it might be worth going there.
