The Salt Pans
The shimmering saline between Trapani and Marsala — the windmills, the white pyramids of harvested salt, the flamingos of the Stagnone lagoon, and one of the oldest industries in the Mediterranean, still worked by hand.
Part of Trapani
6 moments in this segment.
- — The salt pans of Trapani. The shallow rectangular basins stretching along the coast toward Marsala, worked since antiquity — seawater evaporated by sun and wind into sea salt.
- — The salt windmills. The wooden windmills that pump and grind the salt — turning the wind of the Stagnone into one of the most photographed landscapes in Sicily.
- — The white pyramids. Harvested salt heaped into glittering white pyramids and capped with terracotta tiles to weather the rain — the signature image of the saline.
- — The Salt Museum. A restored salt-worker's house at Nubia museum-ing the ancient craft — the tools, the basins and the seasonal rhythm of the harvest.
- — Flamingos of the Stagnone. The Stagnone lagoon nature reserve — pink flamingos, herons and avocets feeding in the warm shallow brine.
- — The salt pans from above. A drone flight over the saline of Trapani and the Marsala lagoon — the geometric basins glowing pink and gold, the windmills turning.
