The coastline from Marsala to Trapani, called the Salt Road in Sicily, is characterized by a picturesque landscape of shallow ponds, windmills and white pyramids of salt.

The salt pans are particularly worth a visit and offer a truly unique landscape. You will discover this landscape in Trapani that boasts some of Europe’s oldest salt marshes and is still home to some of the windmills once used to drain water from the basins.

There are two main areas of production, one at Nubia, just south of Trapani, and one at the “Stagnone”, the largest lagoon in Italy, a few miles north of Marsala.

The first civilisation to have taken advantage of the ideal conditions of this part of the island – flat, windy and sunny coast – is believed to have been the Phoenicians .

They decided to channel seawater into ponds where it evaporated, and the resulting salt was harvested and then exported throughout the Mediterranean basin. Despite their ancient origins, the salt flats are still being worked using traditional methods.

Midway between Trapani and Marsala, on the banks of the lagoon, is a fascinating salt museum located in a 16th-century salt worker’s house.

It recounts the different stages involved in collecting salt from the saltpans and displays various specialist tools adapted for its extraction and its harvest including mill gearing and windmill vanes.

The Salt Road, Sicily, is also very important for the survival of many biological species; it is one of the rare examples in which the man with his work has contributed to the preservation of nature.

Many migratory birds stay in this little paradise like the pink flamingos. These beautifully eccentric birds stop and reproduce in Sicily during their migrations. Their feathers gradually turn pink as an effect of their diet during their stay at the sea salt fields.

The presence of flamingos and other wild birds is the living proof of the success of the WWF sanctuary that protects the area.