Trapani Salt Pans

The Stagnone lagoon between Trapani and Marsala is shallow, hot and windy, which suits salt production, and pans have been worked here since at least the Phoenician period, with the medieval and later system using windmills to pump water between basins and to grind the crystals. As water evaporates through the summer, the brine concentrates and algae and bacteria in it turn the pans pink and red before the salt is raked into white mounds covered with tiles. Several windmills survive, one as a museum. The lagoon is a nature reserve where flamingos, avocets and stilts feed on the shallows.

What to look for

• The pink basins - brine coloured by algae as it concentrates.
• The windmills - pumps and grinding mills across the pans.
• The salt mounds - harvested piles covered with terracotta tiles.
• The lagoon birds - flamingos and waders in the shallow reserve.

When to go

June to September, when the pans are most colourful and the harvest is under way; sunset over the pans is the classic time. Winter floods the basins.

Practical notes

Colour depends on the stage of evaporation and varies day to day. The road along the pans is busy and parking is informal. Mosquitoes appear at dusk.

Nearby

Mozia lies in the same lagoon; Erice is above Trapani.