Open, between two lifts
Soravia
Begar in the Sappada dialectHamlet of Sappada
Soravia, Begar in Plodarisch, is the hamlet of Sappada Vecchia whose houses stand furthest apart, on the edge of a grassy terrace at 1,248 m. It is the only one with two chairlifts a few minutes' walk away: Sappada 2000 and Pian dei Nidi. The price of this position is winter sun: according to our calculation, on 21 December it arrives after midday. It is also the area where the land-use plan provides for most change.
The sun here
Where the sun reaches Soravia 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 Soravia at about 12:15 and leaves at about 15:15: about 3 h 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 Soravia the highest stretch of ridge lies to the south, 27° above the horizon; the lowest to the east, 3.4°. To the south the ridge stands at 21.6°, and at midday on 21 December the sun climbs to 20°. At midday on that day the sun stays behind the ridge. On 21 December it arrives at about 12:15 and leaves at about 15:15; on 21 June it stays in view from roughly 6:20 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 Soravia
- 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 05 min | 10:05 | 16:00 | 9 h 08 min | 5 h 15 min |
| 21 February | 8 h 30 min | 8:25 | 17:00 | 10 h 36 min | 8 h 05 min |
| 21 March | 10 h 30 min | 6:50 | 17:20 | 12 h 08 min | 10 h 25 min |
| 21 April | 12 h 30 min | 6:40 | 19:10 | 13 h 49 min | 12 h 25 min |
| 21 May | 13 h | 6:20 | 19:25 | 15 h 10 min | 13 h 10 min |
| 21 June | 13 h 10 min | 6:20 | 19:35 | 15 h 46 min | 13 h 35 min |
| 21 July | 13 h 05 min | 6:30 | 19:35 | 15 h 13 min | 13 h 15 min |
| 21 August | 12 h 30 min | 6:45 | 19:15 | 13 h 52 min | 12 h 25 min |
| 21 September | 10 h 30 min | 7:35 | 18:05 | 12 h 12 min | 10 h 30 min |
| 21 October | 8 h 20 min | 8:55 | 17:30 | 10 h 35 min | 8 h |
| 21 November | 4 h 05 min | 9:40 | 15:35 | 9 h 08 min | 5 h 15 min |
| 21 December | 3 h | 12:15 | 15:15 | 8 h 30 min | 3 h 45 min |
21 December, the shortest day
- First light
- 12:15at about
- Last light
- 15:15at about
- Direct sun
- 3 habout
- Without mountains the day would last 8 h 30 min: the ridge takes away 5 h 30 min.
- Across the 83 mapped buildings of the hamlet, direct sun ranges from 2 h 30 min to 3 h 10 min; the mid-point is 2 h 55 min.
- At midday the sun stays behind the ridge from 2 December to 10 January: 40 days a year.
- What hides it longest is the ridge to the south, where Monte Siera stands: about 1 h 45 min.
The peaks in view from Soravia
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 · 94° | 5 km | 1,945 m |
| Monte Cimon | SE · 113° | 5.1 km | 2,415 m |
| Monte Siera | S · 162° | 2.3 km | 2,443 m |
| Terza Piccola | W · 260° | 6 km | 2,336 m |
| Monte del Ferro | NW · 301° | 3 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 Soravia is like
What kind of place it is
The Italian name and the Plodarisch one say the same thing: Begar comes from ouber bege, “upper road”, and Soravia means “above the road”. Among the historic clusters it is perhaps the one with the most open layout: the houses do not huddle around a square, they stand apart on the edge of a grassy terrace.
On the edge of the hamlet is the Regina Pacis sanctuary, built between 1971 and 1973 as a votive offering by those who had been deported; in the hamlet, the small chapel of St Joseph, from 1891. The stretch of road between fences that climbs towards Ecche has a name of its own, Zàine. The sports hall and the sports ground are nearby. All the definitions of Sappada Vecchia we compared include Soravia; the stretch of the regional road, lower down, bears the same name.
The sun: what the calculation says
This is what a buyer should know before anything else. From Soravia, Monte Siera lies to the south, and in December the midday sun passes behind it. On 21 December, according to our calculation, the hamlet's map point receives about 3 h of direct sun, from roughly 12:15 to 15:15: all of it in the afternoon. Again according to the calculation, midday stays covered from roughly early December to mid-January.
Then it changes quickly: in February there are more hours of sun than in Bach, on 21 March about 10 h 30 min, on 21 June about 13 h 10 min. In winter the balconies that pay here face south-west, catching the sun from early afternoon until it sets behind the Terze.
It is a calculation on the terrain model, under a clear sky, without trees or buildings. Where the sun grazes a ridge, a few tenths of a degree shift the time by several minutes: the order of magnitude is reliable, the minute is not.
The houses, and what comes up for sale
Historic timber houses, including one from 1668 and one from 1786, and a large barn with hayloft from 1778 that the published descriptions single out as an important example of the oldest farm buildings. Next to them, tourist accommodation: this is a hamlet that works with skiers in winter.
The land-use plan provides here for new tourist accommodation and, between Kratten and Soravia, for the “connecting hub” between the lifts, with services, car parks and sports facilities; there is also a completion area not yet implemented. It means that buildings and construction sites may appear around the hamlet: before buying, ask for the planning designation of the land in front of the house.
For the Italian Revenue Agency Soravia 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, not the price of a house.
On foot from here
The two chairlifts, the cross-country stadium, the sports hall. For everyday shopping the dairy and the food shop are in Fontana, two hamlets further west along the old road. The town hall, post office and pharmacy are in Bach: on foot it is a long walk, and for those you use the car or the bus, which stops on the regional road.
In winter
The Miravalle chairlift, for Sappada 2000, starts from neighbouring Kratten; the Pian dei Nidi chairlift from the level ground between the regional road and the Piave, below the hamlet. Pian dei Nidi climbs the shaded side of the valley. No ski-in, ski-out passage between the two sectors is documented: in 2022 it was still done by bus, and we have not verified the situation today.
For Sappada 2000 the Region has funded a gondola to replace the two present chairlifts, and for Pian dei Nidi a variant of the run. They are projects: the schedule is not confirmed, and it is not certain which lifts will be running in winter 2026/27. The known facts are on the Kratten page.
1,248 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 1,235 m and 1,262 m.
Direct sun on 21 December
All in the afternoon. Calculated on the terrain model, under a clear sky, for the hamlet's map point: trees and buildings are not taken into account.
First sun on 21 December
Central European Time, rounded to five minutes; read it as “about”.
On foot from here
- the chairlift to Sappada 2000, in Kratten
- the Pian dei Nidi chairlift, on the level ground below the hamlet
- the cross-country stadium, the sports hall and the sports ground
- the Regina Pacis sanctuary
The drawback
Around Christmas the midday sun stays behind Monte Siera: according to the calculation, in those weeks the hamlet sees it only in the afternoon.
Who it suits
Who Soravia suits, and who it does not
It suits you if
- The skier who wants two chairlifts within walking distance.
- Anyone letting the house in winter and counting on closeness to the slopes.
- Anyone who comes mainly from February onwards.
Look elsewhere if
- Anyone buying to be in the sun at Christmas and New Year.
- Anyone who wants an area that will stay as it is over the next few years.
- Anyone who needs shops and services on the doorstep.
The drawbacks, stated
- In December the sun arrives after midday; midday stays covered for some weeks.
- It is the area most exposed to the construction sites and changes provided for by the land-use plan.
- It is not confirmed which lifts will run in winter 2026/27.
- Town hall, post office and pharmacy are a long way on foot; there is no food shop in the hamlet.
Prices
How the Italian Revenue Agency values this area
Soravia 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 Soravia
Is there sun in Soravia in winter?
Yes, but in December only in the afternoon: according to our calculation it arrives at around 12:15 on 21 December. From mid-January it returns at midday too, and in February there are more hours than in the centre. It is a calculation without trees or houses, to be checked on site.
Is Pian dei Nidi a hamlet?
No. It is the name of a chairlift and of a place on the shaded side of the valley; the bottom station is on the level ground below Soravia. “House at Pian dei Nidi” in a listing means near that station, usually in Soravia or Ecche.
Can you ski from Soravia without a car?
For the two nearby chairlifts and for cross-country, yes. For the Campetti and for Monte Siera you use the ski bus, free for ski-pass holders, with timetables to be checked again each season. We do not write “ski-in, ski-out”: you walk from the house to the lift.
What may change here in the coming years?
The land-use plan provides for services for skiers, car parks and new accommodation between Kratten and Soravia, and the Region has funded a gondola for Sappada 2000. We cannot say when, or in what order. Anyone buying here also buys this uncertainty.
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 Soravia)
- 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
- PromoTurismoFVG, “Ski map Sappada”
- Il Nord Est, “Sappada rilancia: nuova cabinovia per il salto di qualità”, 23 December 2025
- 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