Molentargius Salt Pans
About
Phoenician settlers first worked the shallow lagoon east of Carales, and Roman-era operators kept the evaporation ponds running as one of Sardinia's richest sea-salt sources. The wetland basin here, now a protected park between Cagliari and Quartu Sant'Elena, drew its later name from the donkeys, molenti, that once hauled the harvested salt to market. Flamingos have replaced the salt-rakers, but the same eleven-hundred-hectare basin survives largely intact, worked without a real break until 1985.
What happened here
Shallow pans are cut into the flats behind a beach or a lagoon and filled at high tide through a gate. The water is walked through a sequence of pans, each shallower and saltier than the last, and the sun does the rest over the summer. In late season the crust is raked into ridges, left to drain, then carried off in baskets. The work is hot, glaring and hard on the feet, and it is done by contracted labour on a short season. Salt preserves fish and meat, cures hides and pays part of the state's revenue, so the pans are regulated and often leased from the state. A salina needs sun, wind and a tide, and it shuts down entirely when it rains.
Sources
Nearby
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