SALT MUSEUM IN CERVIA
MUSA, the Cervia salt museum, was born from the passion and desire not to lose a very important cultural heritage for and of the city.
Agostino Finchi, a former salt worker, in the second half of the 1980s worked with a group of enthusiasts to recover materials related to the history of the Cervia salt mine with tools, documents, and everything that could testify to the historical path of the Cervia salt civilization.
With the material that was collected, towards the end of the 1980s, a permanent exhibition was set up inside the salt warehouses, which testifies to the activity of the salt workers and life inside the salt mine.
In 1989, the group of enthusiasts formed a cultural association and thus the "Gruppo Culturale Civiltà Salinara" was born, which has worked and still works to testify to a relatively recent past, the memory of which is still alive in the memory of the citizens of Cervia.
In 1959, the production of salt in Cervia changed, from the artisanal method with multiple harvests to the industrial and mechanized system with a single annual harvest.
At this point, the saltworks changed appearance: the family-run salt pans disappeared and, in their place, large evaporation and collection tanks appeared. The wooden tools used until then disappeared and in their place large mechanical equipment appeared.
The mechanized harvesting system made the figure of the salt worker disappear, who, until then, had been involved in the salt basin together with the whole family.
The new system therefore replaced the first, whose memory is kept alive by the memory of those who lived this reality and by the material collected over the years by enthusiasts.
The work begun by Agostino Finchi and his friends and collaborators has taken on enormous value, in fact it bears witness to the Cervia culture and local identity.
The permanent exhibition of the salt civilization was reorganized in 2004, in a museum that takes the name of MUSA, or Salt Museum. An integral part of the museum is the Camillone salt pan, the ancient salt pan saved from the transformation of '59.
The salt produced in the Camillone salt pan maintains the characteristics of whole salt, typical of the artisanal production of Cervia, and for its particular characteristics due to the type of processing, in addition of course to the particular climate of the place, have earned it the recognition of Slow Food presidium assigned in 2004.
Today the museum has a permanent location in the salt warehouse, a location that could not have been 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 manage the structure are salt workers, therefore people who have lived the reality that is described in the museum. They can directly transmit their experience and their cultural heritage: having the support of these people is certainly a great wealth for Cervia.
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 they can understand what use is made of them, what the difference is between one tool and another. In the museum we talk about a cultural heritage that is not only passed down in material form, but that can be touched with your hands, you can experiment.
Today the museum is part of the museum system of the Emilia Romagna Region, it has been equipped with regulations and service charter in 2007 and has obtained the qualification of Quality Museum.
Every year tens of thousands of people visit it, so it is certainly a source of pride for the city, but the museum works continuously to bring all target audiences closer to the salt civilization of Cervia.
Educational activities are offered with training courses, dedicated to elementary, middle and high schools, and activities dedicated to children in nursery schools.
Agostino Finchi, a former salt worker, in the second half of the 1980s worked with a group of enthusiasts to recover materials related to the history of the Cervia salt mine with tools, documents, and everything that could testify to the historical path of the Cervia salt civilization.
With the material that was collected, towards the end of the 1980s, a permanent exhibition was set up inside the salt warehouses, which testifies to the activity of the salt workers and life inside the salt mine.
In 1989, the group of enthusiasts formed a cultural association and thus the "Gruppo Culturale Civiltà Salinara" was born, which has worked and still works to testify to a relatively recent past, the memory of which is still alive in the memory of the citizens of Cervia.
In 1959, the production of salt in Cervia changed, from the artisanal method with multiple harvests to the industrial and mechanized system with a single annual harvest.
At this point, the saltworks changed appearance: the family-run salt pans disappeared and, in their place, large evaporation and collection tanks appeared. The wooden tools used until then disappeared and in their place large mechanical equipment appeared.
The mechanized harvesting system made the figure of the salt worker disappear, who, until then, had been involved in the salt basin together with the whole family.
The new system therefore replaced the first, whose memory is kept alive by the memory of those who lived this reality and by the material collected over the years by enthusiasts.
The work begun by Agostino Finchi and his friends and collaborators has taken on enormous value, in fact it bears witness to the Cervia culture and local identity.
The permanent exhibition of the salt civilization was reorganized in 2004, in a museum that takes the name of MUSA, or Salt Museum. An integral part of the museum is the Camillone salt pan, the ancient salt pan saved from the transformation of '59.
The salt produced in the Camillone salt pan maintains the characteristics of whole salt, typical of the artisanal production of Cervia, and for its particular characteristics due to the type of processing, in addition of course to the particular climate of the place, have earned it the recognition of Slow Food presidium assigned in 2004.
Today the museum has a permanent location in the salt warehouse, a location that could not have been 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 manage the structure are salt workers, therefore people who have lived the reality that is described in the museum. They can directly transmit their experience and their cultural heritage: having the support of these people is certainly a great wealth for Cervia.
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 they can understand what use is made of them, what the difference is between one tool and another. In the museum we talk about a cultural heritage that is not only passed down in material form, but that can be touched with your hands, you can experiment.
Today the museum is part of the museum system of the Emilia Romagna Region, it has been equipped with regulations and service charter in 2007 and has obtained the qualification of Quality Museum.
Every year tens of thousands of people visit it, so it is certainly a source of pride for the city, but the museum works continuously to bring all target audiences closer to the salt civilization of Cervia.
Educational activities are offered with training courses, dedicated to elementary, middle and high schools, and activities dedicated to children in nursery schools.