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The cluster around the small square

Hoffe

Houve in the Sappada dialectHamlet of Sappada

Hoffe, Houve in Plodarisch, is a clustered hamlet of Sappada Vecchia: the timber houses stand in a ring around a small square, on a grassy rise at 1,247 m. The sources rank it among the most complete for the number and quality of the buildings that survive. The chairlift to Sappada 2000 and the cross-country trail are a few minutes' walk away. In December, however, the sun arrives only in late morning, and the regional road runs below the cluster.

The Sappada valley looking east: Mühlbach in the foreground, then the hamlets of Sappada Vecchia in a row on the sunny side, forest on the shaded side and, at the far end, the pointed summit of Monte Tuglia.Real footage · Sappada
The hamlets all stand on the left, on the sunny side; on the right, on the shaded side, the forest and the gravel bed of the Piave. At the far end the valley climbs towards Cima Sappada.

The sun here

Where the sun reaches Hoffe 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 Hoffe at about 11:15 and leaves at about 15:30: about 4 h of direct sun, under a clear sky.

91011121314151611:1515:3021 December7891011121314151617186:4517:15Equinoxes678910111213141516171819206:1519:4021 JuneM. TugliaM. CimonM. Creta ForataM. SieraCreton di Clap GrandeTerza PiccolaM. del Ferro

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.

21 DecemberEquinoxes (21 March)21 JuneSolid line: the sun is in view.Dashed line: it has risen, but is behind the mountain.The paler mountains are the more distant ones.The strip scrolls: south is in the centre, north at both ends. One degree is the same length across and upwards.

In words: from Hoffe the highest stretch of ridge lies to the north, 26.2° above the horizon; the lowest to the east, 3.2°. To the south the ridge stands at 8.9°, 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 11:15 and leaves at about 15:30; on 21 June it stays in view from roughly 6:15 to 19:40.

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 Hoffe
  • the day without mountains
  • average of the hamlets
The same figures as a table
Direct sun in Hoffe, on the 21st of each month
DayDirect sunFirst lightLast lightWithout mountainsAverage of the hamlets
21 January4 h 35 min11:1515:509 h 08 min5 h 15 min
21 February8 h 35 min8:1516:5510 h 36 min8 h 05 min
21 March10 h 30 min6:4517:1512 h 08 min10 h 25 min
21 April12 h 30 min6:4019:1013 h 49 min12 h 25 min
21 May13 h 10 min6:2019:3015 h 10 min13 h 10 min
21 June13 h 25 min6:1519:4015 h 46 min13 h 35 min
21 July13 h 10 min6:3019:4015 h 13 min13 h 15 min
21 August12 h 30 min6:4519:1513 h 52 min12 h 25 min
21 September10 h 35 min7:3018:0512 h 12 min10 h 30 min
21 October8 h 25 min8:5017:2510 h 35 min8 h
21 November4 h 35 min10:5015:259 h 08 min5 h 15 min
21 December4 h11:1515:308 h 30 min3 h 45 min

21 December, the shortest day

First light
11:15at about
Last light
15:30at about
Direct sun
4 habout
  • Without mountains the day would last 8 h 30 min: the ridge takes away 4 h 30 min.
  • The day is broken up: the sun appears in spells (11:15–15:05, 15:25–15:30).
  • Across the 73 mapped buildings of the hamlet, direct sun ranges from 3 h 40 min to 4 h 25 min; the mid-point is 4 h 05 min. Here the figure changes a great deal from one house to the next: the range is what counts, not the single point.
  • 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 30 min.

The peaks in view from Hoffe

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
PeakDirectionDistanceAltitude
Monte TugliaE · 92°5.5 km1,945 m
Monte CimonE · 109°5.6 km2,415 m
Monte Creta ForataSE · 132°4.3 km2,462 m
Monte SieraSE · 149°2.4 km2,443 m
Creton di Clap GrandeSW · 203°4.7 km2,487 m
Terza PiccolaW · 260°5.4 km2,336 m
Monte del FerroNW · 310°2.6 km2,347 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 Hoffe is like

What kind of place it is

Hoff is the farmstead: the name recalls that the hamlets began as farms. Hoffe is a clustered hamlet, on a grassy rise above the old road. The timber houses surround a small square that is not old: it was created in 1967, when the largest house, the one in the middle, was demolished. The chapel of St John Bosco stands on the square.

Here, in 1866, Sappada's first hotel opened. And here you can see clearly how the village grew: the old cluster higher up; lower down, along the new road of 1922, a band of twentieth-century masonry buildings. The stretch of the regional road bears the same name as the hamlet: “Borgata Hoffe” in a listing does not tell you whether the house is in the historic cluster or on the road.

The sun: what the calculation says

On 21 December, according to our calculation, the hamlet's map point receives about 4 h of direct sun: Monte Siera keeps it in shade until about 11:15, then the sun stays until 15:30, when it drops behind the Terze. That is appreciably later than in Bach. By February the difference has gone; on 21 March the figure is about 10 h 30 min, on 21 June about 13 h 25 min.

A practical rule follows: in Hoffe, in winter, the balconies that pay are those facing south and south-west, where the sun shines from late morning to sunset. In front are Siera, to the south-east, and to the east Creta Forata. It is a calculation on the terrain model, under a clear sky, without trees or buildings: the house has to be seen on site.

The houses, and what comes up for sale

Two different markets. In the cluster, Blockbau houses with their protection grade: they are usually sold in portions, have period ceiling heights and stairs, and allow no additional volume and no garage above ground on the open spaces. In the band below, apartments in the masonry buildings along the regional road: simpler to use, without the character of the cluster.

One fact about the place that a buyer should know: the published descriptions call the rise of Hoffe predominantly clay. Any excavation work requires a geological report.

For the Italian Revenue Agency Hoffe is in the “peripheral” zone, that is, in 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.

On foot from here

Between Hoffe and Fontana there is a small group of services: the dairy with its shop, a food shop, the bank, a wine shop. The town hall, post office and pharmacy are in Bach: you can walk there, but it is a proper walk. The bus stop is on the regional road, below the cluster.

In winter

The level ground below the hamlet is where cross-country skiing takes place: the loops of the trail, 13 km in all, pass just below, and the stadium, which the land-use plan places between Kratten and Soravia, is a few minutes away on foot. The chairlift to Sappada 2000 starts from neighbouring Kratten, the Pian dei Nidi chairlift from the level ground below Soravia: from Hoffe you can reach both carrying your skis.

Worth knowing: the Region has funded a gondola from Kratten to the Sappada 2000 hut, which would replace today's two chairlifts. It is a project with an indicated date, not an accomplished fact; during the works that sector might be closed. The details are on the Kratten page.

1,247 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 1,229 m and 1,268 m.

4 hSource 4Our 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: hours of direct sun at the hamlet's reference point, on 21 December (2027 ephemeris) · 7 October 2026

Direct sun on 21 December

From late morning. Calculated on the terrain model, under a clear sky, for the hamlet's map point: trees and buildings are not taken into account.

On foot from here

  • the dairy, the food shop and the bank, between Hoffe and Fontana
  • the cross-country stadium and trail, on the valley flat
  • the chairlift to Sappada 2000, in Kratten
  • the Pian dei Nidi chairlift, below Soravia
  • the bus stop, on the regional road

The drawback

In December the sun arrives late. And the address “Borgata Hoffe” covers both the timber cluster and the houses on the regional road: they are two different places.

Where the chairlift starts: KrattenThe hamlet next door: Fontana

Who it suits

Who Hoffe suits, and who it does not

It suits you if

  • Anyone who wants a complete historic hamlet, with the lifts and cross-country on foot.
  • The cross-country skier: the tracks are on the doorstep.
  • Anyone who uses the house mainly from February onwards and in summer.

Look elsewhere if

  • Anyone who wants morning sun at Christmas.
  • Anyone who needs the town hall and the pharmacy a few steps away.
  • Anyone who wants to alter the house freely: in the cluster the constraints are tight.

The drawbacks, stated

  • In December the sun arrives in late morning.
  • Predominantly clay ground: excavation requires a geological report.
  • The lower band of the hamlet is on the regional road.
  • In the cluster: protection grades, no additional volume, covered parking hard to obtain.
  • A major public construction site is planned in neighbouring Kratten.

Prices

How the Italian Revenue Agency values this area

Hoffe 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.

The Sappada marketWhat buying costs

Central zone (B1)
second half of 2025 · Agenzia delle Entrate – OMI
Peripheral zone (D1) · Hoffe is here
second half of 2025 · Agenzia delle Entrate – OMI

Questions about Hoffe

Is a house in “Borgata Hoffe” in the historic cluster?

Not necessarily. In Sappada the address is the name of the hamlet plus the house number, and the stretch of the regional road below the cluster bears the same name. Ask where the house stands: in the ring around the square, on the old road, or along the regional road.

Can you ski from Hoffe without a car?

Yes, for the two nearest chairlifts and for cross-country: they are a few minutes away on foot. For the Campetti nursery slopes and for Monte Siera, in Cima Sappada, you use the ski bus. No ski-in, ski-out link between the sectors is documented.

What can I do to a timber house in the cluster?

It depends on the building's protection grade, which runs from one to 7 and is marked on the drawings of the land-use plan. For the most protected grades, structures, floors and stairs may not be touched and no volume may be added. Before signing, ask the municipality for the grade; do not infer it from a viewing.

Is December sun a problem?

It depends on when you use the house. According to the calculation, on 21 December it arrives at around 11:15; from February the difference with the hamlets to the west has gone. If the house is for the end-of-year holidays, look at it in those days.

Sources

Facts checked against the sources on 6 October 2026.

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