Trapani and Paceco’s salt pans

A remnant of nature "revisited" by man. A landscape, a place of production, an aesthetic appeal. The Saline Oasis is located within a Site of Community Importance in the Municipality of Nubia-Paceco and Trapani. A journey through the basins, canals, windmills, beams ; a play of colors, at sunset among the most beautiful in the Mediterranean.

You can reach this corner of paradise on earth by renting your car in San Vito lo Capo. You will arrive in Trapani in no time.

Walking along the canals of the salt pans of Trapani, the only perceptible sounds are those of the sea waves and seagulls. The rest is just horizons, mountains of salt, and birds in flight. You can discover this and much more by booking your place in a wonderful Trapani Salt pans excursion.

The natural reserve "Saline di Trapani and Paceco" was established in 1995 and managed by WWF Italy. It is divided into 2 zones, of which 700 ha of zone A, coinciding with the salt pans, and about 300 ha of zone B.

Due to their high environmental value, the salt pans are subject to various protection restrictions: the Ministry of the Environment has declared the wet area of the salt pans of Trapani and Paceco reserve a site of " importance international "under the" Ramsar Convention ". They are also among the Sites of Community Interest as well as among the Special Protection Areas envisaged by the Directive Birds.

The basins used for the extraction of salt, given the techniques used, which are the traditional ones in use for centuries, and the particular geomorphology of the coast, which saw the presence of lagoons and coastal marshes, constitute an environment that, although largely artificial, hosts a great biological diversity, from the microscopic level of bacteria to the macroscopic level of birds. These are organisms extremely specialized for this environment, and for the various degrees from salinity present in the different tanks, or, as in the case of birds, which find rest and food in this environment during migrations.

The salt pans are a very important resting place for thousands of birds during both autumn and spring migration, therefore the area is of particular ornithological interest; in fact there are 208 species so far surveyed, many wintering such as flamingos, spoonbills, great white herons, egrets, marsh harriers, waders and more than 5,000 ducks, and other nesting species such as avocets, knights of Italy, fraticelli, fratini, calandrella. We remember the Bittern, the Little Egret, the Great White Heron, the Spatula, the Flamingo, the Knight of Italy, the Avocetta, taken as a symbol of the Reserve, the Rosy Seagull, the Little Tern, the Kingfisher.

Among the fish there is Aphanius fasciatus, the entomofauna includes numerous species of insects endemic and / or rare such as Cephalota circumdata imperialis, Cephalota Costiea goudoti, Pterolepis elymica, Teia dubia arcerii. Finally, the small crustacean Artemia salina has been and still is the object of great interest, both in systematic and pure research terms and applied research.

Open to the public for guided tours, all year round, by reservation, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Oasis entrance: Provincial Road 21 Trapani-Marsala - Maria Stella Mill Visitor Center - 91027 Nubia-Paceco (Tp)

• Phone: +39 0923 867700
• E-mail: salineditrapani@wwf.it