Sicily’s Salt Pans

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…

Upcoming Sicily-Inspired Events in NYC: Shop Small And Save

In honor of SHOP SMALL this weekend, we are offering 15% off of all of our upcoming events. Use the code SMALLBIZ upon check-out by Tues., Dec. 3, 2019 at 11:59PM to receive your discount. Visit https://experiencesicily.com/events/ for all of our upcoming NYC area Sicily-inspired events: Santa Lucia next Sunday, Cannoli Crawls, Cooking with Annalisa,…

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…

Salt Grinder

This is the Maria Stella windmill from the Trapani salt pans. It is one of many windmills whose movement worked a mechanism that ground salt that had been collected from the flats when the sea water held in the flats evaporated. In the past, when this windmill was in use, its large wooded blades were…