Salina di Cervia

Salt is strictly connected to Cervia's history, its foundation and buildings: a land where man and nature have melt in perfect harmony. Cervia's typical sweet salt, its pinewood honey and sand wines are the products of this centennial mutual understanding.
Tasty traditions that we wish to share with you.
 
CERVIA, THE SALT TOWN
Cervia's history is largely influenced by the production of salt, a key ingredient for food preservation and a strategic means of trade exchange. The "white gold" has accompanied the millennial history of Cervia: from the mythical Ficocle, in the Roman times, to the "Old Cervia" which was situated in the saltpan area during the middle age period, to the "New Cervia", dismantled and rebuilt between 1698 and 1740.

Today the salt warehouses, San Michele Tower, the old town walls and some remnants of ancient buildings inside the saltpan stand as evidence of the ancient salt harvesting system.

The Parco delta Salina
The saltpan stretches over 827 hectares. It is a National Nature Reserve for animal restocking and represents the southern station of the regional Po Delta Park. The landscape is extraordinarily charming, inhabited by rare species such as pink flamingos, black-winged stilts, avocets and several other protected bird species of great interest for specialists and environment friendly tourists.

The sweet salt
Cervia's salt has always been considered a special salt. Its sweetness, depending on the purity of its sodium chloride and a lower level of bitter chlorides, makes it ideal for cooking and for cheese and prepared meat products.
Cervia's salt is a raw sea salt which has not been artificially dried and still preserves its natural humidity. It is highly soluble and rich in the same oligoelements of the sea water; that is iodine, zinc, copper, manganese and iron in addition to calcium, magnesium and potassium.
Average chemical composition of Cervia's salt
Average composition in 100 gr. Sodium chloride 97.5 gr., humidity 2%, sulphates 250 mg., calcium 60 mg., magnesium 60 mg., potassium 40 mg., manganese 0.20 mg., zinc 0.15 mg., copper 0.07 mg., iron 0.10 mg., iodine 0.20 mg.

The saltpan products

Cervia’s salt
Raw sea salt with medium/coarse grind, harvested and packaged according to the traditional method.
It is simply washed with highly salted water and centrifuged, so that it preserves all the oligo-elements of the sea water.

Sal Fiore of Romagna The Pope’s salt
Salfiore di Romagna is a raw sea salt with medium/fine grind which is still known by the salt-pan workers as the “Pope’s salt” owing to the centennial tradition according to which the first quality harvest was taken as a gift to the Pope.
Carefully selected and naturally dried. It has no additives, so that it can be easily spattered and preserves all the oligo-elements of the sea water.

Sal Fiore of Cervia
Salfiore di Cervia is a raw sea salt with medium/fine grind, hand harvested in small quantities from the surface of the saltpans at the beginning of the salt season.
Light and tasty. It is the best sweet salt product.

Riserva Camillone ( Camillone Reserve)
Limited reserve coarse grind salt, the only product of multiple hand harvesting which is still carried out daily according to the ancient system.
In 2004 it was granted the Slow Food certificate both for the harvesting method and the excellence of the product.

Salt with aromatic herbs

Herb flavoured raw sea salt for meat seasoning
Cervia’s raw sea salt with local aromatic herbs (meadow sage, rosemary, garlic, juniper, bay leaf and pepper), carefully mixed according to Grandma Isa’s recipe. Ideal for seasoning of meats and vegetables.

Herb flavoured raw sea salt for fish seasoning
Cervia’s raw sea salt with local aromatic herbs (chive, thymes, garlic and chilli), carefully mixed according to the saltpan workers’ recipe. Delicate taste: ideal for seasoning of fish and vegetables.

Cervia’s sweet salt chocolate, an original marriage between Cervia’s white gold and a high quality chocolate.