Undiscovered Italy

Good evening. While many places in Italy are fed up with the country’s 22 million annual visitors (Venice, for example, has banned cruise liners and introduced a daily tourist tax), overtourism is not an issue in the southwestern region of Calabria.
Occupying the “toe” of the country’s boot-shaped peninsula, the stereotypical perception of the area is of an unsophisticated, run-down land that’s home to the mafia. But as writer Mark Jones discovers, the cliches are far from the truth.
Santa Severina on the Ionian coast is a place of formal gardens, wonderful views and charming main piazza, while Tropea, on the Tyrrhenian Sea, is busy and cheerful. “It’s hard to picture a better beach town,” he writes. Unlike the likes of Sorrento and Portofino it’s unflashy and unfussy - which is mirrored in affordable accommodation prices.
In the mountains, it’s the Pollino national park and the Locanda del Parco agriturismo, “a sweet, relaxed and slightly bonkers place,” that win Jones over. All the produce is homegrown and used in onsite cooking classes (think fried, ricotta-stuffed courgette flowers and spicy ’nduja pasta). Nearby, Morano Calabro is another hilltop town to rival any in Tuscany or Chianti.
“I leave thinking that Calabria is as much a country as a region – and needs more than one return visit,” says Jones. “No need to worry about overtourism just yet”.