Abstract Information concerning the glacio-eustatic controls on Quaternary cool-water carbonates is dominated by data contained within the Holocene to Recent marine shelf record. However, this information represents only part of a full eustatic cycle. Much of the data comes from Southern Ocean-based biofacies studies associated with seafloor sediments. Geophysical studies provide further information on earlier Quaternary seafloor deposits and yield valuable data on sediment geometries; however, these works yield little direct information that can be applied to carbonates at outcrop scale. In contrast, Quaternary cool-water carbonates in the Mediterranean region offer outcrops with continuous exposure along which facies changes are readily accessible for study. In southern Italy and Sicily in particular, post-depositional uplift permits outcrop-based studies of large tracts of Quaternary microtidal cool-water carbonates, containing complete interglacial eustatic cycles. This study examines the carbonates associated with the Emilian sub-stage of the early Quaternary Calabrian Stage.