Conference “The ways of salt” for Readings on the Po

Speakers will be the naturalist Riccardo Groppalithe journalist Fulvio Stumpo and the archaeologist Gianluca Mete. At the center of the meeting, the salt, a food that has been one of the main food preservation systems since Roman times. And it was precisely for the transport of salt that special roads or roads were created that also crossed the territory of Cremona.

Fulvio Stumpo it will introduce you to the history of Cremona, as a rich mercantile city which, thanks to its strategic position on the Po river, was a fundamental sorting center for salt. A food that came from the territories of Clugia (Chioggia), Comacchio, Ravenna and Cervia, the southernmost refueling station on the Adriatic Sea. By trading on the ships of the Comacchio people, the people of Cremona became rich and acquired the entrepreneurial, technical and amateur skills to be able to act on their own. Cremona thus managed to develop the salt trade and more, qualifying itself as a rich and powerful city at least until the end of the 1500s, when the routes to America moved the large markets to the Atlantic.

The presence of salt not only has repercussions on trade, but also on the territory. Environments with a high saline concentration are very rare in nature and, considering the threat of pollution, the industrial transformation of extraction methods and the growing occupation of coastal areas with buildings and bathing establishments, it is clear that it is essential to protect and conserve them. Will be Riccardo Groppali to tell it, paying particular attention not only to the characteristics of these landscapes, but also to the fauna and flora capable of living and adapting there.

Gianluca Mete, at the end of the meeting, he will explain how historical and archaeological aspects of the city of Cremona are linked to the old and new “salt roads”highlighting the environmental impacts that this important element has on the territory, together with the social aspects that have arisen over time.