Conti Vecchi Saltworks Museum and Train Tour Cagliari Sardinia

The Conti Vecchi saltworks

The Saline Conti Vecchi were created in the late 1920s, when the engineer whose family name they carry reclaimed part of the marshy Santa Gilla lagoon to produce sea salt on an industrial scale. The project drained malaria-ridden marshes, created jobs for hundreds of families and turned the area into one of the largest saltworks in the Mediterranean. Salt is still produced here today, which makes the visit unusual: you see a real industrial site at work.

Since 2017 part of the complex has been open to visitors as a museum, carefully restored by a national heritage foundation. The Conti Vecchi saltworks tour is one of the most original things to do around Cagliari, combining industrial history, landscape and wildlife in a single morning or afternoon.

The museum: workshop, laboratory and archives

The visit begins in the historic buildings at the entrance. In the guided option your guide walks you through the old administrative offices with their documents, maps and photographs, the vintage workshop where tools and equipment were repaired, and the restored chemical laboratory where the quality of the salt was tested. Two short videos explain how the saltworks were built and how salt is made.

Through objects and personal stories you learn about the daily life of the salt workers, the hard labour of harvesting under the summer sun and the prosperity the industry brought to Cagliari. The ground floor of the old building is wheelchair accessible. If you choose the self-guided option, you explore these rooms at your own pace before joining the train.

The train ride through the salt pans

The highlight is a 1-hour guided ride on a small open train into the heart of the saltworks. It travels along embankments between the basins where sea water slowly evaporates, changing colour from blue to green and pink as the salt concentration rises and micro-algae thrive. At the end of the process, the crystals are harvested and piled into dazzling white salt mountains several metres high.

The train stops for photos and short walks among the salt pans, and the guide explains each stage of production. The colours are at their most intense on sunny days, and the contrast between the white salt, the pink water and the blue sky makes this one of the most photographed industrial landscapes in Sardinia. The train is wheelchair accessible.

Santa Gilla lagoon and its flamingos

The saltworks lie within the Santa Gilla lagoon, also called the Stagno di Cagliari, one of Sardinia's most important wetlands and protected as a site of international value for birds. Flamingos are almost always present, feeding in the shallow salty basins, along with herons, avocets, black-winged stilts and gulls.

From the train you see flocks of flamingos against the white salt mountains, a scene that surprises most visitors. Combined with a visit to Molentargius on the other side of the city, this makes Cagliari one of the best places in Europe to see flamingos in the wild. Bring binoculars or a zoom lens if you have them. Numbers are usually highest in spring and autumn, when migrating flocks pass through.

Macchiareddu and practical tips

The saltworks stand in the Assemini and Macchiareddu area, where a small village grew up for the families who worked the salt, with houses, a school and a church. Your guide tells its story during the visit. Today the site is surrounded by an industrial zone, so follow the signs carefully: you enter an industrial area, leave your car in the free car park and walk to the bookshop at the main entrance.

How to get to the Conti Vecchi saltworks: the easiest way is by car or taxi, about 20 minutes west of central Cagliari along the coast road towards Pula. Tours start at 10:00, 11:00, 14:00 and 14:30 or 15:00 depending on the option. Commentary is in Italian, so non-Italian speakers may enjoy the self-guided museum option combined with the visual train ride.