The Marsala salt pans are the coastal salt pans of the Stagnone lagoon, included in the Isole dello Stagnone di Marsala nature reserve: the «Ettore e Infersa» salt pans, the Genna salt pan and the San Teodoro salt pan.
What to see
The «Ettore e Infersa» salt pans belong to the Trapani firm Sosalt of the D'Alì family, have a restored windmill and produce Trapani IGP sea salt; the Genna salt pan is in contrada Dammusello and all three lie in zone B of the reserve. The Stagnone's main activity, along with fishing, was salt extraction, which was done by letting water channelled into special ponds evaporate and then collecting the product. The pumping of the water and the grinding of the salt were carried out by windmills, some of which are today restored and working.
On the coast, in the middle of the lagoon, the Ettore and Infersa salt pans stretch out with old windmills. In the shallow, salty waters of the reserve grows a vegetation of xerophilous species adapted to the high degree of salinity, such as glasswort and Halocnemum.
Visiting
The salt pans lie along the coast of the Stagnone lagoon, in the territory of Marsala. The sources consulted point to an itinerary called «La via del Sale», but give no opening hours or visiting arrangements: these should be checked.
Our editors' tip
Look at the embarkation square called Mammacaura, on the coast between the Ettore and Infersa salt pans, the subject of a landscape restoration by the architect Antonino Cardillo, carried out in the spring of 2021.
