Sappada has fifteen hamlets, and the nine oldest, from Pill to Muhlbach, from Fontana to Soravia, make up what's called Sappada Vecchia, one of the Most Beautiful Villages in Italy. The houses here are built with the blockbau technique: horizontal timber beams stacked and locked together at the corners, sitting on a stone base. Walking the narrow lanes, past time-darkened facades and balconies full of flowers, feels like stepping back a few centuries.
Sappada is a German-speaking linguistic island. Around the year 1000, settlers of Tyrolean and Carinthian origin moved into this then-empty valley, and the community still keeps its own dialect, Plodarisch, which gives the village its local name, Plodn, tied to the name of the Piave. The traditions are still alive too: the local carnival, the woodworking crafts, and a few old buildings that hold small ethnographic museums telling the story of farming life here.
Frequently asked questions
What are the blockbau houses of Sappada?
They're traditional homes built with horizontal timber beams stacked and locked together at the corners, on a stone base. It's a building technique typical of German-speaking alpine communities like the one at Sappada.
Why is a distinct language spoken in Sappada?
Sappada is a German-speaking linguistic island, settled around the year 1000 by Tyrolean and Carinthian families. The community still keeps Plodarisch, a Germanic dialect, along with the local name of the village, Plodn.