Salt has always been considered a very important element and over 2000 years ago it was even more important than gold and silver. For this reason, the areas where there were salt mines were considered very important precisely because the survival of entire populations depended on salt.
One of the largest salt mines in Europe is located in Petralia Soprana, a town in the province of Palermo, famous above all for the quality of its salt. Here is everything that can be useful for organizing a trip to Petralia and the salt mine.
What is the salt mine in Petralia Soprana
The salt mine in Petralia Soprana is an ancient salt reserve, still active today, which is located precisely in the hamlet known as Raffo. This deposit is one of the richest and oldest in all of Europe and is best known for the incredible quality of its salt. It is, in fact, a very fine and very white powder, with a delicate flavor and marked saline properties. In fact, the rock salt of this mine is rich in magnesium and for this very reason it has a completely different flavor from all the other qualities.
The Petralia Soprana mine has been managed by the company since the XNUMXs Italkali which began the extraction of this precious and pure quality of rock salt but in reality the salt mine in Petralia has been known since ancient times, when the Romans lived in these lands.
The importance of salt in antiquity
Salt has always held great importance for the most ancient populations who considered it a currency of exchange with which they paid for services and products. Roman soldiers were even rewarded by the empire in salt for their services and the term was born from this custom "wage". But why was it so important? Even before being used as a condiment, salt was an indispensable element for preserving meat, the result of hunting, in order to consume it throughout the year.
The same could be done with fish, so it was a product used above all by sailors who in this way could preserve food for longer trips. Precisely because of this importance, salt soon began to become a highly sought-after bargaining chip, making the populations who could count on a flourishing salt production rich. As proof of this, the salt routes that allowed the passage of the trade of this element were often a reason for wars and disputes between nations because they were linked to very large revenues.
How the salt mine was formed in Petralia Soprana
The salt mine in Petralia Soprana has a very long history given that experts hypothesize that it was formed no less than five million years ago, when with the closure of the Strait of Gibraltar, less water began to arrive in the Mediterranean. As the sea closed, it dried up which made the water evaporate and left all the salt on the bottom, especially in some very deep pockets.
As these pockets of salt formed, the sea bed was drained not only of the water but also of the mineral salts that were dissolved in it. With the evaporation of the water, therefore, that particular phenomenon was formed which is called halite, also known by the name of salt stone which is nothing more than a crystal of very pure sodium chloride.
Petralia, the salt mine and the museum dedicated to it
In Petralia the salt mine is such a characteristic element, it is so much a part of the history and essence of the village, that they even wanted to dedicate a museum to it. Is called Sottosale Museum of Contemporary Art, Also known as MACSS, and was set up in an abandoned part of the more than 80 km of tunnels that are part of the Italkali mine. The museum is essentially divided into two parts: in the first you can admire the beautiful sculptures, made both by local artists and by others from all over the world; in the second there are objects of industrial archeology that tell the evolution of salt extraction techniques.
The statues, obviously made exclusively from blocks of rock salt, are thirty and represent the idea of sculptors of the caliber of Philippe Berson, Juan Esperanza, Patrick Tatcheda, and Joseph Lamb. Guided tours can also be carried out, on certain occasions with exceptional guides: the employees of theItalkali.
Petralia, salt mine and folk events
In Petralia the salt mine and in particular the rock salt are the protagonists of the so-called Salt Festival, an event that is held every year in the month of August and which aims precisely to make the salt of these areas and its many properties known to a very large public.
During the event, in addition to many workshops that aim to describe all the extraction and processing techniques of the product in detail, a much-awaited appointment is also held which is the one known as the ritual of salt: it is organized on both days of the event and consists in the distribution of rock salt to all the participants.
Obviously there is no shortage of food and wine stands that offer many local specialties that have a common thread in salt, for example used as a cooking technique.
How to get to the Petralia Soprana salt mine
Petralia Soprana is located about a hundred km from Palermo and the easiest way to cover this distance is certainly to use a car. From Palermo, in fact, Petralia can be reached via the A 20, with the exit at Buonfornello.
The same highway is the one to take even if you come from Messina but in this case the reference exit is Pollina/Castelbuono. Finally, from Catania, take the A19 and exit at Irosa.
Those who prefer the train can leave from Catania or Palermo with stops in Cefalù or Termini Imerese which are the closest ones, since the locality does not have its own station.
Finally, Petralia Soprana is served by a bus line managed by the ATS company.
