The Princess of Piran a star of the Venice Carnival

The Slovenian story of salt journeying around Europe

The Princess of Piran who descended from the tower of Piran church to Tartini Square last year was bestowed with a very special honour this year. At the end of February it received an exclusive invitation to the famous Carnival of Venice. There it presented the Venice Angel, who traditionally comes down to St. Mark’s Square from an 80-m high church tower, with a bag of Piran salt. The Flight of the Angel or "Volo dell Angelo" is one of the highlights and the opening event of the Carnival of Venice, which has the richest tradition in Europe. This year the flight was seen by a record 105,000 people, who all got to meet the Princess of Piran.

She attended the event together with a medieval Carnival procession – in the company of the famous Piran-born violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini, his mother Caterina Zangrando and twenty noblemen from Piran. "Since Piran belonged to Venice for 500 years and we were taught that stealing is wrong, we told them that we had copied their festival and would like to repay them by enriching their Carnival. The Venetians placed the Princess on the main stage and in the thick of the action as their guest of honour! As the event is attended by so many people, this is great promotion for Piran," Mojmir Kovač of the ŠKID I’m the Best association summed up his impressions for Primorske novice. He himself made an appearance as a medieval deliverer of salt.

The story of salt is a story of hardworking people. It is a story of an over 700-year-old tradition and success that comes from joint work and a common goal. The Princess of Piran brought a present not only for the Italian angel, but also for the chief organisers of the Venice Carnival, who are familiar with and have a high regard for unground, light and unrefined Slovenian salt with a designation of origin. Piran salt, which has been awarded a certificate of excellence, is harvested according to a traditional method. The experienced salters do the work by hand and in the same way as their great-grandfathers once did.

The Sečovlje Salt Pans are the northernmost still active salt pans in the Mediterranean and one of the few places where salt is produced following recommendations that date back to the 14th century. The main process is natural crystallisation in the salt fields where salt is harvested from a few millimetres thick biosediment base composed of minerals and microorganisms. Every year they produce around a thousand tonnes of regular table salt and twenty-five tonnes of the flower of salt. Today, precious Piran salt can be bought in fifteen countries around the world. It is used in households and in reputable restaurants from the USA to Europe, even in Japan and Australia.

The first Princess of Piran, a forestry student, was honoured, happy and proud to be able to deliver the salt to the Angel and take part in the Carnival of Venice. She invited her Venetian colleague to come to Piran. In July the town will again return to the Middle Ages, this year for three days. The main part of the event will take place on 26 July 2014 when the new Princess of Piran will come down from the church tower to Tartini Square. The descent of the Princess from the tower to Tartini Square in Piran is devoted to the town’s patron, Saint George. Last year when the descent was staged for the first time the people of Piran celebrated 670 years since Saint George saved their town, boats and produce from an approaching storm. This year the days of the Princess of Piran will offer a varied programme. The organisers will attempt to hold an even larger event making Piran even more recognisable in the future. Girls will be able to register for the role of the Princess, and a jury will pick the one possessing the best skills.

Summer in Piran – by the way, home to Obama of Piran, Peter Bossman, the first black mayor in Slovenia – will have a wide variety of events to offer this year. Aside from the descent of the Princess, visitors can come to the Tartini Festival, an international festival of classical music, the MIFF Mediterranean International Folklore Festival, the cinema under the stars, which takes place every year, as well as other cultural and culinary events.

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