Life in colour in the salt pan
The Salt Pan: between pink flamingos and sweet salt
Each time different, the light reflects on the blue sheets of water and on the salt piles: pink or fiery red light at sunset, sharp or smoky depending on the day, crossed by a sudden flutter of wings. The Cervia Salt Pan, with its many faces, tells of history, of hard work, of life, of splendid natural habitats and is cloaked in fascination.
A NATURALISTIC OASIS
The Salt Pan covers 827 hectares, the southern gate of the Po Delta Regional Park and a natural population and nesting reserve for many animal and plant species.
It is a naturalistic oasis where dozens and dozens of different birds nest and find the best conditions to live in such an extreme environment.
It is a true paradise for birdwatchers, who can observe them during courtship, hatching and flying close to the water.
But the most exciting encounter, to put in your suitcase before returning home after your holiday in these shores, is undoubtedly the one with the pink flamingos, perched in their hundreds on their slender legs.
For some years now, they have made the Cervia Salt Pan their home and have become an icon of this environment, photographed and posted on social networks to share their emotions.
HISTORY OF SALT HARVESTING
The Cervia Salt Pan is also the history of the Cervia community, which was born here, in these basins where, in spite of the changes in production techniques, salt matures today as it did in the past.
With sea water entering through the channels and arriving in the basins, where it remains until it has completely evaporated, thanks to the action of the wind and the heat of the sun.
It is necessary to go back perhaps as far as the Etruscans, but already in Roman times the production of salt was flourishing, then from the year 1000 we have evidence of the production of Cervia Salt.
The precious white gold was a source of wealth, often the basis of disputes, and over time shaped the identity of these lands.
More recent history sees the transformation of the harvest as a fundamental stage in the life of the saltworks.
Times and production techniques changed; testimony to the gestures and work of artisanal multiple harvesting is the Camillone salt pan (open-air museum section of MUSA, Salt Museum).
A coarse-grained salt is produced here, hand-picked by volunteers from the Associazione Culturale Gruppo Civiltà Salinara.
THE SWEET SALT OF CERVIA IN THE WORLD
From the Philippines to Australia, from New York to the monks of Tibet, Cervia's sweet salt is travelling more and more miles around the world.
In Rome, it reaches the canteen of the President of the Republic as well as that of the Pope.
An increasingly international brand for this integral sea salt, whose organoleptic characteristics make it a 'sweet' salt, because it contains fewer bitter chlorides.
GUIDED TOURS ON FOOT, BY BOAT AND UNDER THE STARS
Guided tours and excursions on foot and by electric boat to discover the naturalistic features and the history of salt processing start from the Cervia Salt Pan Visitor Centre.
More informations: www.atlantide.net
MUSA, SALT MUSEUM
Musa preserves a slice of Cervia's history inside the Torre Salt Storehouse.
It is the result of the activity of the Civiltà Salinara Cultural Group, which wanted to keep alive the memory of work in the saltworks and collected documents, tools and photos that bear witness to the environment and salt production.
More informations: www.musa.comunecervia.it
ECOMUSEUM OF SALT AND THE SEA OF CERVIA
The beauty of the natural and urban landscape, its heritage of culture, values and memories, the emotions of the eyes and the heart create the Ecomuseum of Salt and the Sea of Cervia, a widespread museum with no doors and no walls.
More informations: www.ecomuseocervia.it
BETWEEN TABLE AND WELLNESS
There are numerous branded products that meet the Sweet Salt of Cervia: cheeses, artisanal beer, raw ham and even chocolate have successfully combined with this salt.
The Cervia Salt Pan has created a range of aromatic salts which combine the quality and goodness of the Sweet Salt of Cervia with the olfactory peculiarities of fresh herbs.
Outside the table, Cervia Sweet Salt is processed for wellness and cosmetic products.
THE TASTE TILE
Sweet salt pressed into a tile with a chef's imagination on top.
This is the salt brick, a simple idea for an equally simple operation, which allows any dish to be cooked on the heated brick.
Official Tourist Information Site of Cervia