Summary of the event Salt-making cuisine and the opening of the photographic exhibition Janez Korošin: Soline

The participants then visited the museum’s collection, engaged in the creative corner and enjoyed the demonstration of traditional games by the ethnographic group “La Famea dei salineri”.

This was followed by a presentation on how to prepare the so-called vegetable minestrone. Using seasonal vegetables from her own garden, the dish was prepared by Rozana Bonin.

Afterwards, visitors attended the opening of the photo exhibition Janez Korošin: The Salt Pans. The exhibition presents a selection of photographs taken by Janez Korošin in the Sečovlje Salt Pans in 1974, using an Asahi Pentax SPF camera and two lenses: TAKUMAR 1:1.8/55 and 1:3.5/24.

Janez Korošin has been dedicated to photography since the age of seventeen and has been active in various photographic societies, including the Fotogrupa Šolt Ljubljana. He has participated in numerous group exhibitions both in Slovenia and abroad and has received several awards, including the title Master of Photography awarded by the Yugoslav Photographic Association in 1977, and the Janez Puhar Lifetime Achievement Award granted by the Photographic Association of Slovenia in 1996.

At the beginning of 2025, he exhibited his work at the Museum of Contemporary and Modern History of Slovenia, and subsequently sold a large portion of his photographs to the museum's photo archive for permanent preservation.

The extensive series of panoramic photographs and close-ups of individual buildings, salt fields and other salt-related elements represents an important visual document of the abandoned state of Fontanigge in the 1970s. The series of field photographs covers the salt pan areas along the Giassi and Picchetto canals, including characteristic offshoots known as "cavanas."

The exhibition was opened by Veronika Bjelica from the Maritime Museum of Piran and Matjaž Kljun from ZVKS with the photographer himself, Janez Korošin, who will reach the remarkable age of 90 years this August. He shared that he photographed the salt pans in the autumn, as only the light at that time of year allows for the visual effects achieved in the exhibited photos. Korošin remains actively involved in photography and proudly states that he has never transitioned to digital photography.

The participants then visited the museum’s collection, engaged in the creative corner and enjoyed the demonstration of traditional games by the ethnographic group “La Famea dei salineri”.

This was followed by a tasting of various types of minestrone: vegetable, bean with pasta, and bobiči. In addition, visitors could sample two traditional desserts: the so-called busolai and zaletti.

The next event in the series The Cuisine of the Salt Pans will take place on August 23, 2025, as part of the Feast of Saint Bartholomew in Lera – you are kindly invited! 

The Salt Pans Cuisine 2025 is organised by:

the Maritime Museum "Sergej Mašera" Piran, the Self-Governing Community of Italian Nationality Piran with the Community of Italians "Giuseppe Tartini" Piran, the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, the manager of the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park - Soline d.o.o., the Ethnographic Group “La Famea dei salineri”, the Science and Research Centre Koper, the Muzofil Association and others.

Photos: Omar Palaković