Saltworks of Trapani e Paceco

Humans and nature: happy coexistence.

EXPLORE

Add to wishlist

In this natural reserve, where you can admire almost 300 species of birds, man has managed to fit in with respect and harmony.

This important reserve is managed by the WWF Italian Association and covers about a thousand hectares, from the southern outskirts of Trapani to the village of Salina Grande, south of Nubia.

Symbol of the Reserve is the avocet, one of the many species of birds nesting in the protected area.

This evocative landscape, almost metaphysical has a great historical, environmental and ethno-anthropological value. Here the only reliefs are the white mountains of salt and the silhouettes of the mills that are reflected in the pools that draw the landscape where the gaze is lost in a wide horizon.

The Reserve, in fact, includes several private properties still used today as centres of salt production. The salt pans are cultivated with traditional methods, using quagmires and cultivated fields.

Moreover, being one of the most important coastal wetlands of western Sicily, it is characterized by an exceptional floristic and faunal biodiversity.

The brackish environment – which constitutes an extreme environmental condition – hosts shrubby and herbaceous species that have adapted to this exceptional ecosystem.

Among these, there are important endemic species typical of this habitat, such as the strobilaceous glasswort (Halocnemum strobilaceum), a suffruticose species described in few other stations in Sicily and Sardinia and the maritime flower (Calendula maritima), a rare endemic species whose range is limited to the coastal area between the Stagnone of Marsala and Mount Cofano.

The reserve is also a resting place for numerous species of migratory birds on their way to Africa.

The salt marshes of Trapani and Paceco show the harmonious encounter between human activity and nature, respecting almost three hundred species of migratory and sedentary birds.

Among the most representative species, in addition to the avocet, there are pink flamingos (bird symbol of the reserve), herons, ash, egrets, stilt birds, stilt walkers, cormorants, wild ducks and gulls, all typical of the Mediterranean landscape.

The reserve is a place of great charm and poignant emotion, a place not to be missed if you want to take with you a unique and unforgettable memory of Western Sicily.

wwfsalineditrapani.it

+ 6