Campus Salinarum Romanarum
About
Legend credited king Ancus Marcius with founding these salt pans on the Tiber's north bank, close enough to Rome that barges moved the harvest upriver in a single day. State censors imposed a tax on the salt trade here as early as 204 BCE, and two named contractors managed the public pans under a formal lease by the 130s CE. By 117 CE the Campus Salinarum had supplied Rome's own table salt for the better part of six centuries.
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
Roman Maps shows the empire frozen at 11 August 117 CE, the day Trajan died — its moment of greatest territorial extent. Explore the full map →