What was the salt route?

Salt extracted from the mines was transported on the salt routes in Germany and Austria. Salt routes are present even today in the Sahara desert. The names of many German cities are derived from old salt mining areas such as Salzderhelden, Halle, and Swabian Hall. Hall is an old German word for salt. The farther one lived from these salt works, the higher were the prices of this valuable food and preserving agent. A famous salt route called 'Via Salaria' ran from North Italy to Middle Italy via Rome. Roman legionnaires received a ration of salt along with their pay, which was called 'salarium'. The Latin word for salt, 'sal', is hidden even today in the German word 'Salar' and the English word 'salary'-both mean wages or salary.