Small, high up, among the meadows
Cottern
Kòttern in the Sappada dialectHamlet of Sappada
Cottern, Kòttern in Plodarisch, is one of the smallest hamlets in Sappada: a few houses on the old road, at 1,269 m, with a meadow that separates it from Hoffe. It lies halfway between the town hall and the Sappada 2000 chairlift, off the regional road. It is the place for someone looking for a historic house in a compact cluster; but the houses are very few, there is a slope, and the parking space has to be checked.
The sun here
Where the sun reaches Cottern from, and when
The ridge line you see is the real one, calculated from the centre of the hamlet. Above it are the sun's paths on the days that matter: where the line is solid the sun is in view, where it is dashed the sun has risen but is still behind the mountain.
On 21 December the sun reaches Cottern at about 10:45 and leaves at about 15:30: about 4 h 45 min of direct sun, under a clear sky.
Move your mouse or finger over the panorama, or use the slider beside it: you can read the direction, the height of the ridge, the peak, and the time the sun passes that way.
In words: from Cottern the highest stretch of ridge lies to the north, 25.7° above the horizon; the lowest to the east, 2.9°. To the south the ridge stands at 13.5°, and at midday on 21 December the sun climbs to 20°. At midday on that day the sun is in view. On 21 December it arrives at about 10:45 and leaves at about 15:30; on 21 June it stays in view from roughly 6:00 to 19:35.
Hours of direct sun, month by month
On the 21st of each month, under a clear sky, at the centre of the hamlet. The pale band is the day as it would be without mountains: the difference is what the ridge takes away.
- direct sun in Cottern
- the day without mountains
- average of the hamlets
The same figures as a table
| Day | Direct sun | First light | Last light | Without mountains | Average of the hamlets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 January | 4 h 55 min | 10:50 | 15:45 | 9 h 08 min | 5 h 15 min |
| 21 February | 8 h 55 min | 8:10 | 17:05 | 10 h 36 min | 8 h 05 min |
| 21 March | 10 h 35 min | 6:40 | 17:15 | 12 h 08 min | 10 h 25 min |
| 21 April | 12 h 25 min | 6:40 | 19:05 | 13 h 49 min | 12 h 25 min |
| 21 May | 13 h | 6:20 | 19:20 | 15 h 10 min | 13 h 10 min |
| 21 June | 13 h 35 min | 6:00 | 19:35 | 15 h 46 min | 13 h 35 min |
| 21 July | 13 h 05 min | 6:30 | 19:30 | 15 h 13 min | 13 h 15 min |
| 21 August | 12 h 30 min | 6:45 | 19:10 | 13 h 52 min | 12 h 25 min |
| 21 September | 10 h 35 min | 7:25 | 18:00 | 12 h 12 min | 10 h 30 min |
| 21 October | 8 h 55 min | 8:40 | 17:35 | 10 h 35 min | 8 h |
| 21 November | 4 h 55 min | 10:25 | 15:20 | 9 h 08 min | 5 h 15 min |
| 21 December | 4 h 45 min | 10:45 | 15:30 | 8 h 30 min | 3 h 45 min |
21 December, the shortest day
- First light
- 10:45at about
- Last light
- 15:30at about
- Direct sun
- 4 h 45 minabout
- Without mountains the day would last 8 h 30 min: the ridge takes away 3 h 45 min.
- Across the 46 mapped buildings of the hamlet, direct sun ranges from 4 h 30 min to 4 h 50 min; the mid-point is 4 h 40 min.
- At midday the sun is in view all year round.
- What hides it longest is the ridge to the south-east, where Monte Siera stands: about 2 h 15 min.
The peaks in view from Cottern
According to the calculation: at least twenty metres of summit above the terrain in between. A wood or a nearby house can still hide them.
The list of peaks in view
| Peak | Direction | Distance | Altitude |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monte Tuglia | E · 92° | 5.8 km | 1,945 m |
| Monte Cimon | E · 109° | 5.8 km | 2,415 m |
| Monte Creta Forata | SE · 129° | 4.5 km | 2,462 m |
| Monte Siera | SE · 144° | 2.6 km | 2,443 m |
| Creton di Clap Grande | S · 200° | 4.6 km | 2,487 m |
| Terza Piccola | W · 260° | 5.2 km | 2,336 m |
| Monte del Ferro | NW · 314° | 2.4 km | 2,347 m |
Names and altitudes are those of OpenStreetMap. Peaks beyond the basin are left out: they are long lines of sight that need checking on the spot before we state them.
MethodA calculation, not a measurement: terrain model at 10 m, clear sky, the centre of the hamlet with the eye 6 m above the ground. Trees and buildings are not counted; times are rounded to five minutes and, where the sun skims a ridge, they can shift by ten to twenty.
Sources and details of the calculation
Times are Italian local time (summer time from late March to late October), calculated for the year 2027; the sun counts as present when the centre of its disc is above the ridge. On 21 September the sun's path is almost the same as on 21 March, an hour later by the clock. Calculated on 7 October 2026.
- Tarquini S., I. Isola, M. Favalli, A. Battistini, G. Dotta (2023). TINITALY, a digital elevation model of Italy with a 10 meters cell size (Version 1.1). Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV). doi.org/10.13127/tinitaly/1.1
- produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved
- Borgate e cime: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0 — www.openstreetmap.org/copyright
- Posizione del sole: NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Solar Calculator (gml.noaa.gov/grad/solcalc/), da J. Meeus, «Astronomical Algorithms»
What Cottern is like
What kind of place it is
The name, according to the municipality, comes from a gate. The hamlet is a group of a few houses on the old road, just after Mühlbach: a strip of meadow separates it clearly from Hoffe, and the land-use plan protects the valley-floor meadows between the hamlets. The regional road passes further down and does not touch it. In all the definitions of Sappada Vecchia we compared, Cottern is included.
The sources say little about such a small hamlet, and we do not add what we do not know: there are no population figures, nor any shops or services mapped inside the cluster.
The sun: what the calculation says
On 21 December, according to our calculation, the hamlet's map point receives about 4 h 45 min of direct sun, without a break, from roughly 10:45 to 15:30: in the morning it is in shade until the sun clears Monte Siera. At the end of winter the situation is reversed: on 21 February Cottern is, according to the same calculation, the hamlet with the most hours of sun. On 21 March the figure is about 10 h 35 min, on 21 June about 13 h 35 min.
From here, besides Siera, the Clap group and the Terze, Creta Forata begins to come into view to the east. It is a calculation on the terrain model, under a clear sky, without trees or buildings: it holds for the hamlet's map point and should be checked on site.
The houses, and what comes up for sale
A few houses, of considerable interest according to the published descriptions: one from the late seventeenth century, one with its farm building joined by a covered bridge. There is a small niche chapel, half sunk in the ground, which shows the level at which the original road ran, and a crucifix with the instruments of the Passion.
Something comes up for sale only rarely, and when it does it is a portion of a historic house. In the listings we read in October 2026 there is a historic building to be rebuilt, divided into a few units, with no published price. The rules of the old hamlets apply: protection grade of the building, no additional volume, no garage above ground on the open spaces.
For the Italian Revenue Agency Cottern is in the “peripheral” zone, which is the historic part of the village: standard homes between €1,900/m2 and €2,700/m2 (OMI, normal condition, gross floor area). It is a range, not the price of a house.
On foot from here
Everything can be reached on foot, nothing is on the doorstep. To the west, the town hall, pharmacy and shops of Bach; to the east, the dairy and the food shop between Hoffe and Fontana, and the chairlift to Sappada 2000 in Kratten. The cross-country trail is on the level ground below the hamlet. The bus stop is on the regional road, lower down.
1,269 mSource 3OpenStreetMap, the hamlet's node, with the altitude from the EU-DEM 25 m model (OpenTopoData); data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL · 6 October 2026
Altitude of the hamlet
The hamlet's point on OpenStreetMap; the houses stand between 1,250 m and 1,277 m.
Direct sun on 21 December
Calculated on the terrain model, under a clear sky, for the hamlet's map point: trees and buildings are not taken into account. Read it as “about”.
On foot from here
- the town hall, pharmacy and shops, in Bach
- the dairy and the food shop, between Hoffe and Fontana
- the cross-country trail, on the valley flat
- the chairlift to Sappada 2000, in Kratten
The drawback
Very few houses in all: finding one for sale is rare, and there is no choice between floors, aspects or sizes.
Who it suits
Who Cottern suits, and who it does not
It suits you if
- Anyone looking for a small cluster off the regional road, without moving away from the centre.
- Anyone who wants a historic house and accepts its constraints.
- Anyone who also uses the house at the end of winter, when the sun lasts longer here.
Look elsewhere if
- Anyone who wants shops on the doorstep.
- Anyone who needs a covered parking space or level access.
- Anyone in a hurry to buy: there is almost nothing on offer.
The drawbacks, stated
- Very few houses in all: something for sale is rare.
- Slope and parking: winter access and parking space have to be checked house by house.
- No services in the hamlet.
- In December the sun arrives in mid-morning.
Prices
How the Italian Revenue Agency values this area
Cottern falls within the zone that the property market observatory (OMI) calls “peripheral”. For homes in the “abitazioni civili” category, in normal condition, the official value (second half of 2025) runs from €1,900/m2Source 1Agenzia delle Entrate – OMI, database of official property values: standard homes, normal state of repair, euros per square metre of gross floor area. A broad range: it does not replace the valuation of an individual property · 6 October 2026 to €2,700/m2Source 2Agenzia delle Entrate – OMI, database of official property values: standard homes, normal state of repair, euros per square metre of gross floor area. A broad range: it does not replace the valuation of an individual property · 6 October 2026 of gross floor area. It is a range that applies to the whole zone: it is not the price of a house, and it is not an asking price from the listings.
Questions about Cottern
Is Cottern part of Sappada Vecchia?
Yes, in all the definitions we compared: it is one of the six hamlets that no source leaves out, with Mühlbach, Hoffe, Fontana, Kratten and Soravia.
Can the meadow between Cottern and Hoffe be built on?
The land-use plan classifies the valley-floor meadows between the hamlets as farmland to be preserved, where works that alter them irreversibly are forbidden. It protects the meadow; it is not a guarantee about the view from an individual house: to know for certain you need the planning certificate for the land.
Why is so little known about it?
Because it is small. Public sources describe its architecture; there are no population figures by hamlet, and no measurements of traffic or noise. What is not documented we do not write here.
Sources
Facts checked against the sources on 6 October 2026.
- I Borghi più belli d'Italia in Friuli Venezia Giulia, “Le Borgate di Sappada” (entry for Cottern)
- Comune di Sappada – Plodn, “Alla scoperta delle borgate di Sappada / Plodn”
- Comune di Sappada/Plodn, Piano Regolatore Generale Comunale, variante n. 3: norme tecniche di attuazione
- Agenzia delle Entrate – OMI, property values database
- OpenStreetMap, nodes for hamlets, roads, lifts and services (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL)
- OpenStreetMap, the hamlet's node, with the altitude from the EU-DEM 25 m model (OpenTopoData); data © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL · 6 October 2026
- Our calculation, not a measurement, on the 10-metre terrain model (TINITALY, INGV) in the basin and the 30-metre model (Copernicus) beyond, under a clear sky, trees and buildings not considered; times and durations rounded to five minutes · 7 October 2026
- Agenzia delle Entrate – OMI, database of official property values: standard homes, normal state of repair, euros per square metre of gross floor area. A broad range: it does not replace the valuation of an individual property · 6 October 2026
- Our calculation: altitude of the hamlet's OpenStreetMap buildings on the EU-DEM 25 m model (median, 10th and 90th percentile) · 6 October 2026