The inhabitants of the lagoon settlements were often engaged in maritime activities. In fact, Cassiodoro describes their vessels, rather than animals, as being typically tied up outside the lagoon houses. He also recalls the common means of sustenance for the local population: fish (the basis of their diet) and salt (their most important economic resource along the northern coast of the upper reaches of the Adriatic). “But every effort is made to exploit the salt marshes: instead of ploughs and scythes, you turn rollers (i.e. the rollers needed to level the soil in the evaporation pools); this is the source of your income, whether you work your own land or simply rent it out. You could say that these pools act as a kind of food-based currency. Every wave adds to your business. Some people may well dream of finding gold, but everyone wants to find salt, and rightly so as all dishes owe their taste to salt.”