Riserva naturale Salina di Cervia, State nature reserve in Province of Ravenna, Italy.
Riserva naturale Salina di Cervia is a nature reserve covering about 765 hectares of interconnected salt pans throughout the landscape. The area creates a specialized habitat where numerous water birds rest, feed, and breed throughout the year.
This area has been known for salt production since Roman times, as archaeological finds from 2015 confirmed. The discovery revealed that people were extracting salt here more than 1000 years earlier than previously thought.
The MUSA Salt Museum displays how salt production shaped local life and traditions over many generations. Visitors see the tools and methods that salt workers used to extract and process salt from these ponds.
The reserve has marked walking trails and observation points set up at different locations for bird watching. It is best to visit in early morning hours when bird activity is at its highest.
In 2023, the salt pans were intentionally flooded to help protect the town of Cervia from severe flooding affecting the Romagna region. This unusual modern use of the ponds demonstrates how the reserve still serves practical purposes beyond bird protection.
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