Salt Pans and Sunsets
Just minutes from Marsala lies one of the most striking landscapes in all of Sicily: the salt pans. Here time seems to have stopped, among windmills, mounds of salt and sunsets that set the horizon ablaze.
A dive into history
The Trapani and Marsala Salt Pans Nature Reserve preserves a landscape that people have shaped since Phoenician times. The first salt workers dug the basins along this low, windy coast, so they could extract salt from seawater. The harvesting technique was then perfected during the Middle Ages. Even today it relies on a system of connected basins and windmills, which once pumped the water and ground the salt.
Moreover, several historic mills, such as the Mulino Maria Stella, now house small museums. They tell the ancient story of salt harvesting, because restoration has brought them back to life. Just offshore lies the island of Mozia (San Pantaleo). You can reach it by boat and visit an important Phoenician-Punic archaeological site.
Curiosities to discover
- At sunset the basins turn pink and gold, offering one of the most photographed views in all of Sicily.
- The pink tone of the water in fact comes from a microalga, Dunaliella salina, which thrives in the highly concentrated brine.
- Pink flamingos also stop here during their migrations, because they find food in the shallow basins.
- The salt harvest traditionally takes place in late summer, between August and September. In that period the salt workers cover the mounds with terracotta tiles, so as to protect them from the rain.
- It is no coincidence that the stretch of coast between Trapani and Marsala is nicknamed the “Via del Sale”, the Salt Road.
Come and visit us in Marsala: just minutes from Zi Mari this spectacle of light, salt and nature awaits you. The best moment? Sunset, without a doubt.
Photo gallery
Photos of the salt pans and sunsets are coming soon, so come back and visit us before long.