SALT MUSEUM IN CERVIA

MUSA, the salt museum of Cervia, was born from the passion and the desire not to disperse a cultural heritage important for the city and the city.

Agostino Finchi, former salinaro, in the second half of the '80s works together with a group of enthusiasts for the recovery of materials related to the history of the salt pans of Cervia with tools, documents, and all that can testify the historical path of the salt civilization of Cervia.

With the material collected, towards the end of the '80s a permanent exhibition was set up, inside the salt warehouses, which testifies to the activity of salt workers and life in the salt works.

In 1989, the group of enthusiasts was formed into a cultural association and was born then the "Cultural Group Civilization Salinara", which has worked and still works to witness a relatively recent past, whose memory is still alive in the memory of citizens of Como.



In 1959, the production of salt in Cervia changes, from the artisan method to multiple collection, it passes to the industrial and mechanized system with a unique annual collection.

At this point, the salt pans change appearance: the family-run salt pans disappear and, in their place, appear large evaporation and collection tanks. Wooden tools, until then used in the salt pan, disappear, and in their place large mechanical equipment appears.



The mechanized collection system makes disappear the figure of the salt worker who, until then, had been engaged in the saliferous basin together with the whole family.

The new system then sweeps away the first, whose memory is kept alive by the memory of those who lived this reality and the material collected over the years by fans.

The work started by Agostino Finchi and his friends and collaborators has taken on an enormous value, in fact testifies to the culture of Cervese, the local identity.



The permanent exhibition of the salt civilization was reorganized in 2004, in a museum called MUSA, that is, the Salt Museum.

An integral part of the museum is the Salina Camillone, the ancient salt pan saved from the transformation of '59.

The salt produced in the Camillone salt retains the characteristics of the whole salt, typical of the Cervese artisanal production, and for its peculiar characteristics due to the type of processing, in addition to the particular climate of the place, have earned him the recognition of Slow Food Presidium awarded in 2004.



Today the museum has a permanent seat in the salt warehouse, a location that could not be more suitable.

It is an ethnological museum, which offers a unique local reality.

The peculiarity of MUSA also lies in the vitality of the museum. The people who run the facility are salinaries, so people who have experienced the reality that is described in the museum. They can directly transmit their experience and cultural heritage.

Having the support of these people is definitely for Cervia a great wealth.

The tools that are on display at the museum are used in the Camillone salt pan, those who visit the museum and the salt pan see the tools in operation, so you can understand what use is made of them, what is the difference between one tool and another.

In the museum we talk about a cultural heritage that is not only handed down in material form, but that you can touch with your hands, you can experience.



Today the museum is part of the museum system of the Emilia Romagna Region, it has been endowed with regulations and service charter in 2007 and has obtained the qualification of Museum of Quality.

The structure is well known and appreciated.

Every year tens of thousands of people visit it. This is certainly a source of pride for the city, but the museum works continuously to bring to the Cervese salt civilization all the targets of the public.

Educational activities are proposed with educational courses, dedicated to elementary, middle and high schools, and activities dedicated to kindergarten children.