Sappada ( or ; ;Dizionario Sappadino-Italiano:
P. ; ) is a (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Udine, in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

region of

Friuli-Venezia Giulia Friuli-Venezia Giulia () is one of the 20 regions of Italy and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The regional capital is Trieste on the Gulf of Trieste, a bay of the Adriatic Sea. Friuli-Venezia Giulia has an area of and a ...

. It is one of ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").

Geography

The settlement is situated on the southern slopes of the Peralba mountain, part of the

Carnic Alps The Carnic Alps (; ; ; ) are a range of the Southern Limestone Alps in Austria and northeastern Italy. They are within Austrian East Tyrol and Carinthia, and Italian Friuli (Province of Udine) and marginally in Veneto. Etymology They are ...

range, close to the border with

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Sappada is located about north of

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and about northeast of

Belluno Belluno (; ; ) is a town and province in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Located about north of Venice, Belluno is the Capital (political), capital of the province of Belluno and the most important city in the Eastern Dolomites region. W ...

. Sappada borders the following municipalities: Forni Avoltri, Prato Carnico, Santo Stefano di Cadore, Vigo di Cadore.

Language

Sappada is a German

language island A language island (a calque of German ''Sprachinsel''; also language enclave, language pocket) is an enclave of a language that is surrounded by one or more different languages. The term was introduced in 1847. Many speakers of these languages als ...

in Italy. The local vernacular, or ( in Italian), is a variety of

Puster Valley The Puster Valley ( ; , ) is one of the largest longitudinal valleys in the Alps that runs in an east-west direction between Lienz in East Tyrol, Austria, and Mühlbach near Brixen in South Tyrol, Italy. The South Tyrolean municipalities of th ...

Tyrolean Bavarian that is closely related to the speech of nearby

Sauris Sauris () is a (municipality) in the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity of Udine in the Italy, Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. At an elevation of , it is the second highest municipality in the region and one of the Germ ...

() in

Friuli Friuli (; ; or ; ; ) is a historical region of northeast Italy. The region is marked by its separate regional and ethnic identity predominantly tied to the Friulians, who speak the Friulian language. It comprises the major part of the autono ...

. It is however not closely related to the Germanic

Cimbrian language Cimbrian (, ; ; ) is any of several local Upper German varieties spoken in parts of the Italian regions of Trentino and Veneto. The speakers of the language are known as in German. Cimbrian is a Germanic language related to Bavarian most ...

spoken in other language islands in

Trentino Trentino (), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento (; ; ), is an Autonomous province#Italy, autonomous province of Italy in the Northern Italy, country's far north. Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the Regions of Italy, region of Tren ...

and

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

. The German name of the settlement refers to the Piave () river which runs through the valley.

History

The area of Sappada was initially part of the historic Cadore region, which Emperor

Otto II Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy. Otto II was ...

ceded to the Bavarian Bishops of Freising in 973. The bishops already held nearby Innichen Abbey in the Puster Valley. At the time, German-speaking settlers, mainly from the Villgraten valley (in present-day

East Tyrol East Tyrol, occasionally East Tirol (), is an exclave of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, separated from North Tyrol by parts of Salzburg State and parts of Italian South Tyrol (''Südtirol'', ). It is coterminous with the administrative ...

), entered the region. King Henry IV, after his

Walk to Canossa The Road to Canossa or Humiliation of Canossa (), or, sometimes, the Walk to Canossa (/''Kanossa'') was the journey of the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV to Canossa Castle in 1077, and his subsequent ritual submission there to Pope Gregory VII. I ...

in January 1077, gave Sappada to the

Patriarchs of Aquileia The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in ...

in 1077. ''Pladen'' itself, then part of a larger mining area together with neighbouring Forni Avoltri, was first mentioned in a 1269 deed. With the Friulian lands of Aquileia, it was conquered by

and incorporated into the ''

Domini di Terraferma The () or () was the hinterland territories of the Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime ...

'' by 1420. Part of the Province of Belluno since 1852, it fell to the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

in 1866. Although Sappada was part of the Italian region of

for many years, it was historically part of the

Carnia Carnia ( or ''Cjargna''/''Cjargno'' in local variants, , , ) is a historical-geographic region in the northeastern Italian area of Friuli. Its 27 municipalities all belong to the province of Udine, which itself is part of the autonomous Friuli- ...

region in

. In 2008, the municipality has formally asked to become part of

. According to the Italian constitution, municipalities bordering other

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

have the right to ask for the incorporation into the neighboring entities. The municipal council of Sappada took advantage of this possibility and asked the Autonomous Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia to join it. In September 2010, the Regional council of the latter accepted the municipality's demand. Italian parliament approved the incorporation to Friuli-Venezia Giulia on 22 November 2017.ilpiccolo.it.
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References

External links

Consorzio Comelico Sappada Dolomiti Official Website
{{authority control Carnic Alps Borghi più belli d'Italia