The Miracle of the Sweet Onion (Cipolla Rossa di Tropea)

In Tropea, people don’t just worship saints—they worship vegetables, too. The famous, extraordinarily sweet red onion is the undisputed star of the town. Local “legend” has it that Phoenician sailors first brought the onion to these shores, but the locals initially had no idea what to do with it. They thought it was some strange South American obscurity or a magical bulb meant to ward off the Evil Eye (Malocchio). It wasn’t until a hungry fisherman accidentally bit into one raw that everyone realized: it tastes as sweet as an apple!

Today, the onion is revered so exsourcely that you can find onion jam, onion-braid decorations, and even red onion ice cream. A running joke among campervans: if you order gelato in Tropea without paying attention, you might suddenly end up with a scoop of caramelized onion on your cone instead of vanilla!