Margherita di Savoia’s Saline, rising on what once was the Salpi lake, represent the greatest regional extension of humid environment with low waters and wide extensions of mud. The immense lagoon territory, whose origins go back to the night of times, is since ever at the service of the salt extraction, but in the farther away zones from the productive activity, in the extended basins of evaporation of the North area (called “of the Damned Soul”), an exceptional ecosystem has developed, one of the most precious humid zones of Italy for the avifauna, chosen as a place of rest along the migratory routes.

Pride and symbol of the area are the colonies of pink flamingos, nesting and non-migratory; but also more than 30.000 species of birds are sheltered, some of them under extinction danger, like the knight of Italy, the royal godwit, the coralline gull, the blackpaws sterna, the occhione.  

For the protection and the safeguard of this very important zone, it has been created inside the Saline a perfect integration between natural habitat and human activity; a meaningful example of this integration is the Salpi Observatory, a “Bird-watching” stationing located in the typical “Salinari’s Village” nearby the ancient Stone Tower. 

The observatory includes: a visits centre with a didactic room, an office, toilets and several didactic panels useful to make the visitors aware of the species of birds they will find in the reserve. A wooden foot-bridge, camouflaged from the reed matting, leads to an aviary where visitors can see the wild birds without disturbing them.

The Observatory is an important research station where researchers can analyse the migratory flows, but it is also an aim for environmentalists, visiting schoolchildren or tourists keen on visiting the zone, perfect synergy between unspoilt nature, iridescent colours and pure air.