Ecche

Ekke is the knoll, and that is exactly where the hamlet stands: on a rise beside the small valley of the Puiche stream, among the most detached from its neighbours. You reach it from Soravia along the stretch of road between fences called Zàine. The cluster lies above the regional road, whose stretch lower down bears the same name.

There are few historic buildings, of note: eighteenth-century houses, one of which has remained almost unaltered in its classic form. The hamlet has the small chapel of St Anthony of Padua, from 1930, a niche dedicated to St Notburga, from 1897, and an old pit for processing flax. The most widespread list of the hamlets of Sappada Vecchia includes Ecche; other sources stop at Soravia.

Here the sources and the calculation seem to say opposite things, but they are talking about different months. The published descriptions call Ecche “very well exposed to the sun”. Our calculation gives, for 21 December, about 2 h 50 min of direct sun on the hamlet's map point, in two spells: a few minutes in mid-morning, then from early afternoon until about 15:20. In between is Monte Siera, which from here lies exactly to the south: according to the calculation it covers midday from roughly early December to mid-January.

Then the order is reversed. At the end of January Ecche already has more hours of sun than Hoffe or Fontana, in February it is among the first; on 21 March the figure is about 10 h 30 min, on 21 June about 13 h. And the horizon to the east is more open than in the centre: you see Creta Forata and Monte Cimon.

It is a calculation on the terrain model, under a clear sky, without trees or buildings. In Ecche the December result varies a great deal from one house to the next, because the sun skims the ridge: it should be checked on site, in those days.

Historic timber houses, a few, and next to them more recent buildings. In the listings we read in October 2026 there is a small new-build development, with several houses of a few apartments each: the energy class and completion date in a listing are statements by the seller.

Lower down, by the Piave, the land-use plan identifies the site of a former crushing plant: it can be built on only after flood-safety works. This is information for anyone looking at a house in the lower part.

For the Italian Revenue Agency Ecche is in the “peripheral” zone, the historic part: standard homes between €1,900/m² and €2,700/m² (OMI, normal condition, gross floor area). It is a range estimated on completed sales, not the price of a house, and it does not describe new builds.

There are no shops in the hamlet. The nearest food shops are in Fontana or Cima Sappada; the town hall, post office and pharmacy are in Bach, and on foot they are far. The Sappada 2000 and Pian dei Nidi chairlifts can be reached in a few minutes' walk, the cross-country trail is on the level ground below the hamlet. On the valley floor the maps show a stretch of surfaced cycle path: we have not verified its full length and route. The bus stop is on the regional road.