Sauris (Zahre in the local Germanic dialect, Sauris in Friulian) is a scattered municipality in Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is the highest municipality in the region (1212 m above sea level) and is a German-speaking linguistic island. Despite being one of the smallest municipalities in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Sauris is a popular summer and winter tourist resort.

Understand

Sauris

Its municipal territory brings together the towns of Lateis, Sauris di Sopra, Sauris di Sotto (municipal seat), and the localities La Maina and Velt.

It is part of the Authentic Villages of Italy club and the Alpine Pearls association.

Geographical notes

Lake Sauris

Located in the Friulian Alps in the mountain region of Carnia in Val Lumiei, it boasts in its territory the presence of a magnificent lake (Lake Sauris), one of the largest artificial basins in Friuli, created by the damming of the Lumiei stream. The main peaks surrounding Sauris and its hamlets are: Col Gentile (2,075 m), Monte Tarondon (2,019 m), Monte Pieltinis (2,027 m), Crodon di Tiarfin (2,413 m), Monte Bìvera (2,474 m), Mount Zauf (2,245 m), Mount Tinisa (2,080 m).

Background

Legend has it that the community of Sauris was founded around the 13th-14th century by two German soldiers who, tired of the war, fled their country and took refuge in this isolated and impervious valley. It seems that the immigration actually occurred from the Lessach Valley and Pusteria in the 13th century.

The historian Giordano Brunettin dates the occupation of the area back to the mid-13th century. The first document attesting to the existence of the locality, a lost inheritance deed, dates back to 1280. Only a document from 1318 which speaks of Sauris, also concerning a feudal investiture, has been preserved.

Between 1941 and 1948 the Val Lumiei hydroelectric plant and its dam were built, despite the fact that it was in the middle of the war. Precisely due to the shortage of men that this entailed, 300 New Zealand prisoners of war were also involved in the construction. The locality La Maina was submerged by the artificial lake and its ruins remain underwater.

The community forms a linguistic island of the Germanic type, a true German-speaking enclave in Italian territory, which has been able to preserve itself, starting from its foundation, thanks to an isolation that lasted centuries. The typical local dialect, the "Saurano", retains archaic features compared to the Tyrolean dialects to which it is connected, but the population is generally trilingual, speaking both Italian and Friulian.

Get in

By car

Carnia - Tolmezzo motorway toll booth on the A23 Alpe Adria. The town can be reached from the state road 52 Carnica, then deviating onto the provincial road 73.

By train

Station in Carnia, a hamlet of Venzone, on the Pontebbana and Carnia-Villa Santina lines.

By bus

The SAF company manages extra-urban trips.

See

• 1 Sanctuary of Sant'Osvaldo, in Sauris di Sotto. Dating from the first decades of the 14th century, in all likelihood the cult of Saint Oswald was imported by the founders of the country, coming from Austria. The relic of his thumb was attributed with saving the town from the plague of 1348, which made Sauris one of the pilgrimage destinations; in the 17th and 18th centuries it became one of the most popular centres of devotion in the region. The interior is divided into three naves with tuff pillars and arches. It houses the Flügelaltar, the altar with doors by Michael Parth from Brunico (1524) in carved, gilded and painted wood, which is an example of late German Gothic style. In the central part St. Oswald is depicted, flanked by saints Peter and Paul; the predella below contains an intense Pietà. On the doors, scenes from the life of the Virgin and Jesus (on the inside) and some saints (on the outside) are depicted in bas-relief. The crowning, with spiers and pinnacles, culminates with the figures of the Madonna and Child and angels and saints. In the right nave the altar of S. Osvaldo, the work of Gian Francesco Comuzzo da Gemona (1658), houses votive offerings. At the end of the nave another 17th-century altar is dedicated to S. Silvestro. Resting on two pillars are the processional banners with silver plaques of S. Osvaldo and the Madonna della Cintura of 18th-century Venetian manufacture.  
• 2 Church of San Lorenzo Martire, in Sauris di Sopra. (updated Jun 2024)
• Lake Sauris (Màina lake). It is a lake of artificial origin which is located near Sauris, at 977 meters above sea level, on the road that leads from Ampezzo to Sauris, in the Màina area. The lake was finished in 1948, one year after the end of the construction of the dam on the Lumiei River, which began in 1941. The dam has a domed structure, and at the time of construction it was the second highest in Europe. When the lake is periodically emptied, it is possible to see the remains of the town that once existed in place of the body of water. (updated Jun 2024)

Do

Events

• Der orsh van der Belin (Belin's bottom). January 5.
• Saurian Carnival. February.
• Ham Festival. Second and third weekend of July.
• Salty cheese festival (A Lateis). August.
• International Music Festival. August.
• Among the clouds. August. Theatrical project with workshops and shows.
• Christmas markets. December.

Eat

A slice of Sauris ham

It is known for the production of a particularly renowned smoked raw ham, Prosciutto di Sauris I.G.P., Sauris speck and an equally renowned craft beer (Zahre Beer).