I recently went to visit the oldest remaining salt flat on the mainland of Italy, Cervia in Emilia Romagna. Up on the east coast, sandwiched between the ancient town of Ravenna with its amazing Byzantine mosaics and the chic beach town of Rimini with its discos and crowded beaches, Cervia is a quiet marsh that has been used for salt production since the Etruscan times.
Less than 800 yards inland, the salt flats produce a beautiful, sweet white salt (sale dolce) that is hand raked and evaporated in the full sun of the summer. From June to September, water from the sea is fed by canals into large, shallow flats, and allowed to concentrate until it is more than 75% saltier than seawater. Only one of the original 150 salt flats holds to the traditional methods, but it is still possible to see the locals raking and drying the salt in the sun. You can purchase sacks of this moist, sweet salt at the visitors center or by ordering online from Salina di Cervia.
Salt is getting a bad rap these days, and unjustly so. It is the only mineral that we eat and it’s the one ingredient that is common among all the cuisines of the world. Salt is crucial to our survival and has been the source of unrest and wars throughout our history.
Sea salt is a whole food made not of just sodium chloride but of a myriad of minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium, and trace minerals like selenium, boron and iodine. When salt is processed (kosher, table salt) all the other minerals are taken out and just sodium chloride remains. An anti-caking agent is then added. Industrially processed salt can lead to a state of imbalance in the body, which in turns leads to disease.
If you’re as interested in salt as I am, check out the salt guru, Mark Bitterman, on his salt blog: www.saltnews.com. He also has a fabulous book called “Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral”. Another good read on the history of salt is Mark Kurlansky’s “SALT”.
For your own visit to the salt flats, contact the visitors center below:
Parco della Salina di Cervia
Via Salara, 6
Cervia (Ravenna)
Tel. +39 0544.971765
www.salinadicervia.it