The saltworks or “Le Saline” of Trapani and Marsala have been exploited since Phoenician times (c. 800 BC). The shallow salty waters, high temperatures, and arid winds make for excellent conditions for harvesting salt from the sea. For centuries, windmills mechanized the process of cultivating and processing the salt that is exported to kitchens throughout…
Tag: saline
Reserve Your Sicilian Sunset
When planning your itinerary to Sicily, consider being somewhere special at sunset. You can search on the internet for the precise minute the sun will go down at your destination prior to your departure so that you make your dinner reservation for just the right moment. This is something we do for our clients… It…
White As Salt
On first glance, you might think that my mom, Claire, is standing in front of a pile of snow; however, on second look, she’s standing in front of a pile of salt! Yes, that’s right, this is harvested sea salt in Nubia, Trapani on the side of one of the salt pans. The Phoenicians were…
Announcing Our 2017 Tours of Sicily
2017 Small-Group Tours of Sicily July 13 – 20 – Music & Revelry in Sicily A family-friendly week of music, culture, cuisine, and community Stay for our Palermo-Agrigento Extension until July 23! August 28 – September 4 – Splendid Sicily Like-minded professional women and men soak up Sicily’s culture, history, and cuisine September 6 –…
Inhale the Sunset
The Maria Stella windmill on the Trapani salt flats stands as a proud beauty, with the sun setting on her face. Over the past few days, I’ve been working on an itinerary for July 2017 for an independent client, and one evening, the plan is to dine right on the salt flats as the sun…
Salt in the Wind(mill)
This is the Maria Stella windmill on the Trapani salt flats. It is one of many windmills along Sicily’s west coast whose movement, generated by the force of the wind, powered a mechanism known as an Archimedean spiral (aka, screw conveyors or auger), that moved seawater from one salt flat to another in order to…
Happy Spring
Happy Spring! The windmill in the background is the home of the Museum of Salt in Trapani, Sicily (and a trattoria!).
Our May Tour, Day 2: Capture the Wind
Along Sicily’s west coast from Trapani in the north through Marsala in the south, harvesting salt has been a leading industry since Phonetician times (that is, from around the 8th century BC). Windmills, like the one pictured, although no longer used to grind the harvested salt, still dot the picturesque coastline. During the afternoon of…
Northwestern Sicily’s Salt Flats
The salt flats of Trapani and Marsala (This one pictured is in Nubia.) can trace their origins back to the Phoenicians who colonized and developed the area starting around 700 B.C. The Phoenicians, who soon after became known as Carthaginians because of their establishment of Carthage (i.e. modern-day Tunisia), were master mariners, fisherman, and traders….
Silver Sky in Trapani
Trapani’s salt flats at dusk with a full moon overhead.