The salt pans of Augusta are a natural area protected under European rules, as a site of Community interest and a special protection area, in the municipal territory of Augusta. According to some documents they have existed at least since the sixteenth century, and the historian Tommaso Fazello also mentions them. For a long time they were active in gathering sea salt, and were an important economic resource for the town, until the building of the petrochemical complex led to their closure.
What to see
What remains is a wetland frequented by birds, both resident and migratory. Recorded species include the avocet, the flamingo, the black-winged stilt, the godwit, the Kentish plover, the sandpiper, the little egret, the spoonbill, herons and ducks, as well as gulls.
The flora is that of the Mediterranean scrub of the surrounding areas. The salt pans are split in two: they were cut by the tracks of the Catania-Syracuse railway, built at the end of the 1860s and opened to traffic on 19 January 1871.
Visiting
Access points and places for observation should be checked on the spot or with the local associations that look after the area.
Our editors' tip
Anyone going should know what state they will find. Because of their closeness to one of the petrochemical hubs of the Syracuse area, the salt pans were classed as at high environmental risk and in 2005 were included among the areas monitored by the regional office for zones at high risk of environmental crisis; as of 2019 the site had not yet been cleaned up.
