Sauris () 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 ...

. At an elevation of , it is the second highest municipality in the region and one of the 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 ...

s in

Northeast Italy Northeast Italy ( or just ) is one of the five official statistical regions of Italy used by the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica, National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), a Italian NUTS level 1 regions, first level NUTS region and a European ...

. Sauris is part of the Alpine pearls cooperation for

sustainable tourism Sustainable tourism is a concept that covers the complete tourism experience, including concern for Impacts of tourism, economic, social, and environmental issues as well as attention to improving tourists' experiences and addressing the needs o ...

Geography

Staumauer vom Lago di Sauris 07102007 03

Sauris di sopra Pfarrkirche Heiliger Stefan 07102007 64

Sauris is situated within the Carnia mountain area of

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 ...

, in the Lumiei Valley (''Val Lumiei'') 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 ...

, northwest of the Monte Bìvera massif. It is located about northwest of the provincial capital

Udine Udine ( ; ; ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity ...

and northwest of

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

. The municipal area mainly consists of two villages, Sauris di Sotto (''Unterzahre'') und Sauris di Sopra (''Oberzahre''), with a total population of 429 (). Sauris borders the following municipalities: Ampezzo, Forni di Sopra, Forni di Sotto, Ovaro, Prato Carnico, and Vigo di Cadore.

History

According to legend, the settlement was founded about 1300 by two exhausted German mercenaries who retired to Carnia. Actually, the Romance place name ''Sauris'', possibly derived from Illyrian ''Savira'' ("current"), was already mentioned in the 12th century. German peasants probably immigrated from the Tyrolean Hochpustertal and the adjacent Lesachtal in the north. Like the historic Cadore region in the west, Carnia had belonged to the ecclesiastical

Patria del Friuli The Patria del Friuli (, ), also known as the Patriarchal State of Aquileia (), was the territory under the temporal (political) rule of the Patriarch of Aquileia, and one of the ecclesiastical states within the Holy Roman Empire. It was creat ...

(Patriarchate of Aquileia) since 1077 and passed from the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

to 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 republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

by 1420. For centuries, the isolated valley could only be reached by steep footpaths. A road to Ampezzo was built from 1919 to 1934; followed by the construction of a large

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

project in the Lumiei Valley from 1941 onwards. The Lago di Sauris reservoir was completed in 1948. During the period of

Italian Fascism Italian fascism (), also called classical fascism and Fascism, is the original fascist ideology, which Giovanni Gentile and Benito Mussolini developed in Italy. The ideology of Italian fascism is associated with a series of political parties le ...

, the local population was subject to

Italianization Italianization ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is the spread of Italian culture, language and identity by way of integration or assimilation. It is also known for a process organized by the Kingdom of Italy to force cultural and ethnic assimilation of the nati ...

measures.

Language

Since its foundation, Sauris has been a German linguistic enclave in Friuli and has been able to preserve that status to the present day because of its isolated location. The local dialect, ''Saurano'', preserves archaic features of the

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

ean dialect to which it is related. This vernacular is a variety of Puster Valley Tyrolean Bavarian that is closely related to the speech of nearby Sappada (''Plodn''). It is unrelated 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. The population of Sauris is in large part trilingual, also able to speak Italian and Friulian. The municipality falls under article 29 of the Regional Law of 18 December 2007 concerning Friulian, under which the Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia established official nomenclature in both standard Friulian and the local forms of Friulian of those municipalities in which Friulian is a ''de facto'' language, and also the regional laws 4/99 and 20/2009, establishing linguistic minority rights and aid for the German-speaking populations within Friuli-Venezia Giulia.Una regione multilingue
Agjenzie Regjonâl pe Lenghe Furlane, Regione autonoma Friulia Venezia Giulia, retrieved 5 May 2013

References

External links

Municipal site

Tourist website
{{authority control Cities and towns in Friuli-Venezia Giulia Carnic Alps