The family

Women played a very important role in the salt pans. The salt bed was managed by saltpan workers assisted by every member of their family. Women learned the art of making salt and, if their husbands died, they took over the management of the salt pan until their eldest sons reached working age. Of course, women had to reconcile their activity in the salt pan with everyday housework, making repeated trips on foot from home to the salt pan and vice versa, to bring food and then join the people who were gathering the salt. They were said to be "al cavadori" (“cavare” being Italian for the verb "to quarry"), because they were involved in the quarrying of the salt.

Children were brought to the salt pan from an early age. They would sleep in a hut built from reeds and when they cried, their mothers would run to feed them. The older children helped the family collect the salt, learning the trade. The women were also responsible for washing and repairing the jute sacks used to contain the salt.
A 15th century map in the historical archives of the Municipality of Ravenna shows the drawing of a man and a woman, presumably on their way to work, both carrying identical tools on their shoulders.

 

From interviews:

“My dad used to take me to the salt pan when I was 10, so I that I could watch and learn by doing small jobs”

“...I was about seven the first time my dad took me to help him...”

“It was exhausting; the women went to work with their husbands until the salt pans changed system. You had to have a light hand, you had to slide along with the tool because, underneath, the bottom was black. They preferred women because they weren't so heavy and worked better.”