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Drone footage over the edge of Borgata Bach: the last houses, some recent and timber-clad, then the meadow plain with its small hay barns and the ski run beyond the Piave.

For builders and developers

For those who build in Sappada

Selling off plan to people who live hours away, or across the border, is a matter of materials before it is a matter of adverts. Here is what we bring to a development, what you can already check from outside, and where we have not yet got to.

Let's talk about the projectEvidence you can open

Status at 6 October 2026: Gathering and vetting sellers; in open dialogue with developersOffice in Trieste · in Sappada by appointmentReal footage · Sappada

The problem

Whoever buys new, nearly always, does not live here

In Sappada 76.5% of homes are not occupied by residents: second homes, homes let to tourists, empty homes. Buyers mostly come from elsewhere: it is about 2 h 30 min by road from Venice, about 1 h 50 min from Udine, about 2 h 45 min from Trieste. At that distance nobody comes to see a building site three times: the building, the unit and the view have to be understood from home.

And new homes are few: between 2019 and 2023 the number of homes in the municipality rose by 43 in all. Whoever is looking chooses among a handful of offers, and chooses the one that is easiest to read.

  • Distance

    A building site is visited once. The rest of the decision is taken from far away, on what the project is able to show.

  • Paper

    A design drawing speaks to a professional. A buyer wants to know where the sun falls, what the balcony looks out on, where the skis go.

  • Language

    Today foreign visitors account for 13.4% of overnight stays in Sappada: the buyer from across the border has to be looked for, and reads in their own language.

The valley looking west: the houses of Pill in the foreground, Granvilla with the bell tower of the parish church in the middle, and the ridges of the Terze under a cloudy sky.Real footage · Sappada
Granvilla and the Terze group, from the drone, spring 2026. This is what a project page has to show to someone who is not there: where the building stands, and what it faces.

What we bring

Seven things, each already done for a real development

None of them is an idea to try out on you. Next to each is what you receive.

  1. Selling off plan

    It starts before work begins on site: a private preview, without prices, to find out who is interested, in which sizes and on which floors.

    What you receiveThe list of interested people, unit by unit, before the price list is set.

  2. The project page, in 3D from the drawings

    From the dimensioned plans we rebuild the building: it opens floor by floor, you step into each unit, you see where it stands in the hamlet and how much sun it gets in December.

    What you receiveA page that is sent as a link and works on a phone.

  3. Redrawn floor plans

    We do not publish the architect's drawings: we redraw them from the measurements, readable by a layperson, with floor areas stated as “from the design”.

    What you receiveOne plan per unit, consistent with the price list. And the list of inconsistencies found while reading the drawings.

  4. The price list with statuses

    Each unit with its status: available, reserved, sold (in the price lists made so far we have used two: available and sold). The price with VAT stated, or “on request” until you decide.

    What you receiveOne price list, the same on every channel: never two prices for the same unit.

  5. Gathering interest

    A form on the page: interested people choose the units and leave a contact. The enquiry goes into our own system and is handled by a person.

    What you receiveEnquiries unit by unit, with where each one comes from.

  6. Four languages

    Italian, English, German and Slovenian, from the first line to the form. German and Slovenian are translated with artificial intelligence.

    What you receiveThe project readable by people who do not speak Italian.

  7. Buyers from abroad, measured

    Among the buyers whose country we know, 37% come from abroad: 69 Austrians and 32 Germans in twelve months. These are figures for Trieste and the surrounding area.

    What you receiveYour development put to people who are looking for a second home and are not looking at Sappada today.

A price list with statuses, as it is built

Each box is a unit, the colour is its status. Try tapping one: it is what you do from your panel, and what a buyer sees on the page.

Demonstration only: this is not a real development, and it has neither prices nor floor areas.

Attic floor
First floor
Ground floor
  • Available
  • Reserved
  • Sold

4 available · 2 reserved · 2 sold

The evidence

What you can check from outside

We do not ask you to take our word for it. Three things open from a link, today; one we show in person.

  • Open it from here

    The developments in the Trieste catalogue

    On triestevillas.com 19 listings out of 59 belong to 4 developments with a public name, some new builds and some full renovations of historic buildings: renderings labelled as renderings, prices with “+ VAT”, site photographs with their date.

    Open the triestevillas.com catalogue
  • Open it from here

    Elegie Duino: the site of a development

    For a development of homes in Duino we handle the sales and the dedicated site: a price list with the status of each unit, a map of the units floor by floor, a plan for each one.

    Open elegieduino.it
  • Open it from here

    The preview of a project in Sappada, from the drawings

    The building opening floor by floor, the redrawn plans, the list of units, the form to be contacted. Without prices and without names: built in two days from the drawings alone.

    Open the preview
  • Open it from here

    In Sappada: a home sold

    In Borgata Bach we sold an apartment, with photographs, drone, 3D survey, floor plan and market study. Its page is on this site, marked “sold”.

    Open the page

How we work

How we work with those who build

The terms are put in writing before we start. These are the rules that do not change from one project to the next.

  • Sole agency, or alongside whoever already sells

    For developments sole agency is not the rule. If you already have an agent in the village we can work alongside them: our job is to bring buyers who are not looking at Sappada today, and to look after the presentation.

  • What we are able to report back

    We already collect the data: how many enquiries come in, from where, for which units. A periodic report for developers, however, we do not yet have as a product: it has to be built with the first project, and we are telling you now.

  • Timing

    The preview mentioned above took two days, from the drawings. A full page needs the price list and the specification to be settled. We promise no selling times: we have no track record in the mountains yet.

  • Two stages of release

    First privately, to those who have signed up for previews; then publicly, when you decide.

  • Confidentiality

    No original drawings on the page, no names of builders, clients or architects without written consent. Until that consent exists, the page stays out of search engines.

  • Images, labelled

    A rendering is called a rendering, a simulation is called a simulation, a building site stays a building site. On the group's sites this has been the rule since October 2026.

The caveats

Our limitations, in our own words

You would find them anyway. Better to read them here.

  • We have no office in Sappada: we work from Trieste and come to the site.
  • We have not yet sold a whole development: the most advanced public case is in Duino, with the site open.
  • In Sappada we are starting now: so far, one home sold.
  • The buyers we count asked about homes in and around Trieste: how many want the mountains remains to be measured.
  • For Sappada we do not yet have a single documented Austrian or German buyer: that our foreign demand holds here too is a hypothesis still to be tested.
  • We do not manage lettings locally.
  • We come from outside to a village where other agencies have worked for years: the offer is to add, not to replace.

Before you call

The questions we are asked

Do you work only on a sole-agency basis?

No. For developments sole agency is not the rule: you can start with some of the units, or have us work alongside the agent you already have. The terms are put in writing before we start.

What do you need to get started?

The dimensioned drawings (plans, elevations, a section), the list of units with their floor areas and, if there is one, the specification. Prices can come later: a preview can be made without them.

Do you publish our drawings?

No. We redraw the plans from the measurements and rebuild the building in three dimensions: the original drawings remain yours and the architect's, and do not go on the page.

Does the builder's name appear?

Only if you want it to, with written consent. As a rule the page of a development does not name the builder, the client or the architect.

How much does it cost?

It depends on what is needed: the presentation of the development alone, or the sale of the units as well. We put it in a written proposal after seeing the drawings: there is no single price list to publish here.

Do you guarantee a number of sales?

No. We can show you how many people asked about each unit and where they came from: that is the information on which to decide prices and timing.

And after the sale, the lettings?

We do not manage lettings in Sappada. On this site buyers find return scenarios with their stated assumptions, not promises.

What legal guarantees must an off-plan buyer have?

For homes still to be built, Italian law protects the buyer with a bank guarantee on the sums paid and a ten-year insurance policy on the building (D.Lgs. 122/2005). We suggest setting this out clearly on the project page, together with the status of the planning permission and the VAT: they are an attentive buyer's first three questions. For the details, your notary's advice is what counts.

In confidence

Let's talk about the project

A few questions: where, how many units, what stage you are at, what you need. The person who looks after the group's developments will call you back.

  • What you write is read only by the person who replies.
  • No name is released without written consent.
  • You can start with a preview, without prices.

Would you rather have a call? Ask for the person who looks after developments: what you tell us stays confidential.

Write to us on WhatsApprichieste@triestevillas.com+39 331 8940822

We reply in Italian or in English. Our office is in Trieste: we come to Sappada by appointment.

Read only by the person who replies

The project
Who you are

The hamlet is enough: you can tell us the exact spot when we speak.

The group also works in other parts of the region: tell us where the property is.

How many unitsoptional
What stage it is at
What you needoptional

More than one is fine.

Timing, unit sizes, what you already have: drawings, renderings, price list.

You

It stays in our own system: it does not appear on the site.

One of the two is enough: email or telephone.

The site sends nothing by itself: once the fields have been checked you will find the text ready, for you to send us. What you write stays confidential: we do not publish the names of builders, clients or architects without written consent.

What we do not know

  • How long it takes to sell a development in Sappada: the group has no track record in the mountains.
  • Where the buyers of new homes in Sappada come from: no public source gives it municipality by municipality.
  • How many units are still available in today's developments: the listings do not say.

The sources of the figures on this page

Page checked on 7 October 2026