Red onion gelato at Tropea beach resort

The red onions of Tropea, in the region of Calabria, are so good the town's local gelateria decided to make an ice-cream flavour from them. Indeed, these onions are so well known throughout Italy that any red onion is often assumed to be from Tropea.

But if onion-flavoured gelato is not on the tip of your tastebuds, then the town's ice cream parlour can also serve you variations that use squid ink or the region's famous spicy salami.

For the foreign visitor such gelatos may only serve curiosity rather than genuine eating pleasure, but the beach resort zone of Tropea and the surrounding Capo Vaticano headland is a metaphorical unwrapping of the onion that reveals an attractive coastline and a range of land expeditions to sample.

Like the Santa Maria dell'Isola sanctuary. Santa Maria is a rocky island fragment of stunning cliffs with a beach to one side. A 12th century church sits atop, once a Benedictine sanctuary, that preserves a Black Crucifix from the 15th century.

This is a land of contrasts, as black as the monks' crucifix, as white as the Cape's sandy beaches. The Capo Vaticano and Tropea promontory have been variously called the coast of the Gods, costa bella, and the pearl of Calabrian tourism and their crystalline waters and white, white beaches are the cause.

The Spiaggia del Cannone (Cannone Beach) offers a secluded hideaway, the Spiaggia della Rotonda (Rotonda Beach) a suggestive view. The Spiaggia Passo Cavalieri (Passo Cavalieri Beach) has a range of private bathing establishments and the entire coastline is a haven for marine activities - swimming, snorkelling, fishing or boating.

And at the end of the day, the red onion in all its possibilities and some spicy, home-made salami or fresh Mediterranean squid await!