How did people preserve food before the invention of fridges or freezers? For thousands of years the answer was simple: salt. Even though its properties were well-known to most cultures, not everyone had easy access to it; Venetians were of course a rare exception since the lagoon is naturally rich in salt, and early on they found it to be a great product which could be sold for a big sum of money to foreign merchants. It is no exaggeration that Venice owes its rise in power to salt; so much so that around 500 years ago the Venetian Republic constructed the Magazzini del Sale, as few as 9 huge warehouses exclusively for salt storage. Nowadays, you won’t find much salt inside any of them as their size has proven to be perfect for events, art exhibitions and boat docks.
