Sauris and its Smoked Ham
The German-speaking village
In a high valley of the Carnic Alps, at about 1,200–1,400 metres, surrounded by meadows, spruce forests and peaks, Sauris is one of the highest and most remote municipalities of Friuli, and one of the most fascinating, a German-speaking linguistic island in the heart of the Italian Alps. According to tradition, it was founded in the thirteenth century by a few families from Tyrol and Carinthia, and over the centuries, thanks to its isolation, the inhabitants have preserved an ancient German dialect, the "Zahrer Sproche" (Sauris is called Zahre in the local language), as well as their wooden houses, their customs and their traditions, such as the Carnival, with masked figures like the "Rölar", covered with bells, and the "Kheirar", who leads the procession with a broom. The village is divided into several hamlets, Sauris di Sotto and Sauris di Sopra, with their churches and traditional houses of wood and stone.
Sauris is famous for its ham, the Prosciutto di Sauris IGP, which, unlike other Italian hams, is lightly smoked with beech wood and aged in the cool mountain air, giving it a delicate, sweet and slightly smoky flavour; the village also produces speck, smoked sausages and a craft beer. Below the village, the emerald Lago di Sauris, an artificial lake created in the 1940s by a dam, adds to the beauty of the landscape. In summer, Sauris is a destination for walks and hikes in the mountains, and in winter for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. In late June, the "Festa del Prosciutto" celebrates the local ham.
Tip: taste the smoked ham with local beer; walk between Sauris di Sotto and Sauris di Sopra to see the traditional wooden houses.
Where it is
More things to see in Friuli Venezia Giulia
Where to stay near Sauris
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