Salina dei Monaci: a corner of maritime heaven near Manduria

Let's meet the Salina dei Monaci, a natural heaven in San Pietro in Bevagna, protected by the natural reserve, populated by pink flamingos, surrounded by Mediterranean scrub and with the ruins of a salt works as a backgoround.

Leggi in italiano

Last weekend I attended an aikido seminar in the nature of Salento, in Manduria. One of the most pleasant aspect of this particular seminar is the practice on the beach with a bath after the lesson.

The chosen beach was the Salina dei Monaci in San Pietro in Bevagna, one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve visited in the last years. It’s the third time that I come back here to practice this martial art , but only this year I managed to keep some time to enjoy the sight of the Salina. Involved two friends in my improvised excursion, I grabbed my sunscreen and a towel (to be used as a Bedouin style headgear, because I forgot my hat,  as usual) and ventured on the dunes regardsless of the sun of 11:30 am.

The saline is separated from the beach by the dunes and Mediterrean scrub. Few steps on the burning sand and here we are on the little path that coasts the saline, where we meet a bustle of bathers who by bike or on foot reach this corner of maritime heaven.

The history of the Salina and of the natural reserve

The place takes its name from the Benedictine monks who in year 1000 used the saline as a salt factory. Starting from the end of 19^th century until the ‘40s of the 20^th century they made some remediation in order to solve the problem of malaria. Fortunately, these operations were minimal and didn’t compromise the saline and its view. The real danger came in the ‘60s, when building speculation and uncontrolled tourism development threatened the landscape: the dunes and some areas of Mediterranean scrub were destroyed. The institutions payed attention to this territory in 2000 with its inclusion in the Protected Area of the saline of Torre Colimena and in 2010 in the list of the Italian protected areas.

Pink flamingos and more

The most succulent attraction of this area are pink flamingos that migrate here, but unfortunately this is not the right period. We greeting white herons that stay quietly in the water,  unaware or careless of being the object of our wonder. For lovers of bird watching this is the perfect place: we found some mallards that went around few meters far from us. It was so beautiful that if it weren’t for the burning sun on our heads, we would have stayed and looked for a while.

Unfortunately, time is of the essence and we couldn’t enjoy more that this little walk, but we brought with us the beauty that this (almost) pristine landscape offered. The sense of connection that we can feel when we are surrounded by nature is something that escapes when we’re in town, flooded with commitments, with work, disturbed by the hustle and bustle. I wanted to write this blog post not just to make you know about the Salina dei Monaci, but overall to invite everyone to take a moment and  to get away from all sources of stress of everyday life and to enjoy the restorative power of nature, treating it not as something outside us, but as an harmonious ecosystem that can work at its best with us and for us only if we respect it.