Conti Vecchi Saltworks

In the Cagliari region of the island of Sardinia is an operational sea-salt  plant and associated landscape that since 2018 are open to the public. In the 1920s the engineer Luigi Conti Vecchi reclaimed land in the Santa Gilla basin and created the saltworks. It supported over 1,000 workers in the community of Macchiareddu, with schools, medical support and recreational facilities, and produced 250,000 tons of salt a year for export. The company Eni now produces salt for food production, road gritting and chemicals industries.

Guided tours take visitors through the workshops, carpenters’ shop, laboratory and Art Nouveau offices, restored and furnished with artefacts as in the 1930s. A film brings the history of the industrialisation of Sardinia and the salt works to life. This area of the salt works is maintained and open to visitors by the FAI - Fondo per l'Ambiente Italiano, a non-profit foundation set up in 1975, modelled on the National Trust, with the aim of protecting and enhancing the Italian historical, artistic and landscape heritage. A 7-km journey by land-train passes between the mountains of salt and the salt lagoons colonised by flamingos, which extend for 2,700 hectares.