The salt was for the tuna. The Vendicari salt pans began as a department of the tuna fishery standing a few metres away, and the first works go back to the 15th century: the squared basins still visible on the Pantano Grande are what remains of a cycle of work that lasted for centuries, in which the fish was caught, processed and preserved without ever leaving the bay. The tonnara, built in the 18th century, employed forty people at its peak, with two rais - the chief from Avola, his deputy from Pachino - and closed in 1943.
What to see
Of the tonnara there remain the gutted warehouses and the chimney, still standing and easy to spot from the beach. Above it is the Torre Sveva: it was most likely built by Peter of Aragon, count of Alburquerque and duke of Noto, brother of Alfonso V, on a stretch of coast that needed watching. Far older are the storage vats of a Hellenistic fish-processing plant, with a small necropolis beside them, and the Byzantine settlement of Cittadella dei Maccari, abandoned when the shore became too dangerous.
Then there are the birds, the reason the reserve exists. The Pantano Piccolo, Grande and Roveto lie only a few dozen metres apart; the Piccolo never dries out, fed by brackish springs, and the average depth stays around 30-40 centimetres. Africa is 350 kilometres away as the crow flies and this is the first useful stop: flamingos from France, black-headed gulls from Poland and Hungary, terns from Scandinavia, storks, grey herons, cormorants, and the black-winged stilt working its way up from the Sahara towards northern Europe.
Visiting
The reserve covers 1,512 hectares, 575 of them in zone A and 937 in the buffer zone, with 701 hectares still farmed with citrus, olives and vines. There are four entrances: Eloro to the north, Calamosche, the main gate below the Torre Sveva, and Cittadella dei Maccari. From the main gate to the salt pans and the tonnara the walk is flat, on sand: two to three hours at an easy pace, more if you stop to look. Provided for by a regional law of 1981 and established by decree on 14 March 1984, the reserve opened to the public only in 1989. Water and a hat: there is no shade.
Our editors' tip
The right month is December, not August: that is when the marshes are full, birdwatching is at its best and the reserve is empty. Bring binoculars, come in through the main gate and keep left towards the Pantano Grande, with the sun behind you. In summer, set off at dawn and swim at Calamosche before nine.