# Calabrian food: bergamot and Tropea onions

> Two Calabrian products carry the name of the place they grow in: bergamot oil, protected since 2001, and the red onion of Tropea, registered in 2008.

URL: https://myitalia.it/food/in-calabria
Last updated: 2026-09-02

Two Calabrian products carry the name of the place they come from and can be visited where they grow: bergamot essential oil, protected since March 15, 2001, and the red onion of Tropea, registered on March 28, 2008.

## Bergamot: a 100 kilometer strip, and an oil rather than a fruit

The protected name is "Bergamotto di Reggio Calabria, olio essenziale", a DOP created by EU regulation 509/2001 of March 15, 2001. What is protected is the essential oil, which is why you will find the fruit itself sold freely and the oil sold under a mark.

The production zone is a coastal strip of about 100 km in the province of Reggio Calabria, between Villa San Giovanni and Gioiosa Jonica, up to 200 m above sea level. Groves are planted at 450 trees per hectare.

Extraction is cold, from the Femminello, Castagnaro and Fantastico varieties of Citrus bergamia Risso, with the water and oil emulsion separated by centrifuge, at a yield of 350 to 750 grams per quintal of fruit. That ratio is the reason a small bottle costs what it costs.

One claim you will read everywhere is missing here on purpose: the share of world bergamot grown in Calabria is not stated by the regional agricultural agency and we found no official source for it, so this page does not repeat it.

## Tropea onions: three provinces, three forms

The Cipolla Rossa di Tropea Calabria became an IGP under EU regulation 284/2008 of March 27, 2008, published in the Official Journal L 86 of March 28, 2008. The registration was read directly on the EU legal database.

The name covers 3 distinct forms: the spring onion, the fresh eating onion and the storage onion. They are different products with different seasons, and a market stall in July is not selling the same thing as a market stall in October.

The zone runs across council areas in the provinces of Cosenza, Catanzaro and Vibo Valentia. The exact list of towns lives in the specification, which we did not open, so those three provinces are an indication rather than a complete boundary.

## Visiting where they grow

Both names are field crops on a coast that is also a beach coast, so 1 day can take in a working grove or an onion field and still end at sea.

Bergamot is picked in winter, roughly from November to March, which puts the harvest in the same months as the family travel season rather than in the summer weeks. Onion fields around Tropea run through spring and summer instead.

The ministry lists the Tropea onion as the flagship product of the region on its official register, updated to June 11, 2026, and Liquorice of Calabria DOP, registered on October 25, 2011, as the other regional name worth knowing.

For the wider picture see [Calabria](/regions/calabria) and [DOP and IGP](/themes/dop-igp).

## FAQ

### Where does bergamot actually grow in Calabria?

On a coastal strip of about 100 km in the province of Reggio Calabria, between Villa San Giovanni and Gioiosa Jonica, up to 200 m above sea level. The protected product is the essential oil, not the fruit, and it has been a DOP since March 15, 2001.

### Is the red onion of Tropea only from Tropea?

No. The Cipolla Rossa di Tropea Calabria IGP zone covers council areas in the provinces of Cosenza, Catanzaro and Vibo Valentia. The exact list is in the specification, which we have not read, so treat the three provinces as an indication.

### How is bergamot oil made?

Cold extraction from three varieties of Citrus bergamia Risso, Femminello, Castagnaro and Fantastico, with the water and oil emulsion separated by centrifuge. Groves are planted at 450 trees per hectare and yield 350 to 750 grams of oil per quintal of fruit.

### What counts as the flagship product of Calabria?

The Cipolla Rossa di Tropea Calabria IGP, registered in the EU register on March 28, 2008, on the agriculture ministry's regional attribution. Liquorice of Calabria DOP, registered on October 25, 2011, is the other candidate.

## Sources

| Fact | Source | Confidence | Valid until |
|---|---|---|---|
| La Cipolla Rossa di Tropea Calabria IGP e registrata nel registro UE dal 28 marzo 2008. | [MASAF - Elenco DOP e IGP prodotti agricoli (PDF, agg. 11/06/2026)](https://www.masaf.gov.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeAttachment.php/L/IT/D/1%252Fa%252F2%252FD.e7bdb4ebe6d458c7925a/P/BLOB%3AID%3D15453/E/pdf?mode=download); [Commissione europea - DG AGRI, registro eAmbrosia](https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/eambrosia/geographical-indications-register/) | high | 2099-12-31 |
| Il 'Bergamotto di Reggio Calabria - Olio essenziale' e DOP dal regolamento (CE) n. 509/2001 del 15 marzo 2001; la zona di produzione e una fascia costiera di circa cento chilometri nella provincia di Reggio Calabria fra Villa San Giovanni e Gioiosa Jonica, l'olio si estrae a freddo dalle varieta Femminello, Castagnaro e Fantastico di Citrus bergamia Risso, con impianti a 450 piante per ettaro e una resa di 350-750 grammi per quintale di frutto. | [EUR-Lex - Unione europea](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32001R0509); [ARSAC - Azienda Regionale per lo Sviluppo dell'Agricoltura Calabrese](https://www.arsacweb.it/bergamotto-di-reggio-calabria-dop/) | high | 2029-12-31 |
| La 'Cipolla Rossa di Tropea Calabria' e IGP dal regolamento (CE) n. 284/2008 della Commissione, del 27 marzo 2008, pubblicato sulla Gazzetta ufficiale dell'Unione europea L 86 del 28 marzo 2008; la denominazione copre tre tipologie - cipollotto, cipolla da consumo fresco e cipolla da serbo - in comuni delle province di Cosenza, Catanzaro e Vibo Valentia. | [EUR-Lex - Unione europea](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32008R0284) | medium | 2029-12-31 |

## Image

https://media.myitalia.it/media/region.calabria.1600.jpg
Author: Benjamin Smith. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0).
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reggio_Calabria_-_Lungomare_Falcomat%C3%A0_-_6.jpg

## Other languages

- it: https://myitalia.it/it/cibo/in-calabria.md
- es: https://myitalia.it/es/gastronomia/in-calabria.md
- fr: https://myitalia.it/fr/gastronomie/in-calabria.md
- de: https://myitalia.it/de/kulinarik/in-calabria.md