The history of the Trapani salt pans is very ancient and probably dates back to the Phoenician people some three thousand years ago. The origin is not certain because there is no material evidence, but it is the Phoenician landscape itself that suggests that the production and sale of salt was a fundamental component of their economy, since their settlements were built along the coastal areas in the East. that in the West and in particular in this extreme part of Sicily.
The museum is set inside a baglio, an ancient seventeenth-century farm-fortress used for salt milling, with the large attached windmill, Inside the stone walls, the terracotta floors and the ancient painted doors, it is possible to admire original finds on display accompanied by numerous information sheets and reconstruction panels for phases of the work cycle: old ruzzoli to compact the background of the salt pans, the cathedrals or the baskets to transport the salt, the wooden shovels of the mills (ntinni), the spire or Archimedes' screw to suck the water of the tub called "fridda", the wooden strips (tagghia) for measure the salt, the jute bags, the barrel wagon that attached to the mule shuttled between one tank and the other to quench the saline, the heavy mill that allowed to refine the salt, the nets and the traps, from the moment that in the salt-water tanks are raised valuable fish such as sea bream and sea bass.Work tools today disused and now constitute a relic of industrial archaeology.