text by Marcello Cardillo

The Bût Valley in the twilight (photo from Carnia’s Tourist Board)

A view of Prato in Carnia, in the Pesarina Valley

Carnia‘s “roof” is Sauris, the highest village of Friuli Venezia Giulia, a little “toy” village, 1,400 meters above sea level, in north east of Italy. It is a pleasant resort, offering relax, beautiful walks, winter skiing and good cuisine, with two famous local products, the Sauris beer and the Sauris ham. Its wooden little houses in the meadows look like some scenes from “Heidi”, a famous cartoon of the Seventies, complete with goats and cows in the pastures. You can reach Sauris by car, along a winding scenic road offering breathtaking views, like the blue lake, just before the village. In the village’s Ethnographic Center you can find evidence of Sauris’s ancient Carinthian origins and a reconstruction of its history, starting in 1250, when a group of families from Tirol settled in the high Lumiei valley.

- Sandro Petris, producer of the traditional smoked beer at Sauris di Sopra, 1,400 meters above sea level

Sandra Schneider, owner of the “Traditional textile workshop” at Sauris

Speaking about gastronomy, Sauris is famous the world over for two high quality products, ham and beer. Sauris ham is an Igp, a legally defined designation, meaning "Protected Geographic Indication”. It is the village’s main source of income: the only firm producing it, Giuseppe Petris’s Wolf, employs 55 people, all members of local families (www.wolfsauris.it). This ham has a mellow, slightly smoked taste, and melts in your mouth, it is just as good as the other more famous Italian hams. Its high quality is due to the meat selection, the frequent quality controls, severe production regulations and the area’s microclimate, fundamental for its maturing process.

Friuli’s and maybe Europe’s “highest” beer is produced at Sauris by another Petris, Sandro. His Sauris Agribeer is made of barley malt, hops, fresh yeast and pure water. It is available in four kinds: Pale Lager Pils, Vienna Amber Lager, spiced beer and smoked beer, the latter two with a strongly lingering aroma (www.zahrebeer.com). Another local activity is textile handicraft. Two sisters, Sandra and Adriana Schneider, produce in their workshop at Sauris, articles of clothing, tapestries, carpets and household linen, drawing inspiration from local tradition for their textures and patterns (www.tessiturasauris.com).

The beautiful lake of Sauris

One of the clocks of Pesariis, the monumental clocks’village

When you leave Sauris, driving down the beautiful Pesarina Valley, you reach two villages, Pesariis and Prato Carnico, which have specialized in clockmaking for almost three centuries. It was the year 1725 when the Fratelli Solari firm was founded. It has exported clocks all over the world: clocks for bell towers, for castles, railway stations, town halls. Already in the 17^th century these Carnian communities were appreciated for their clever smiths, specializing in precision handicraft and clockwork. At that time some families were even able to produce “pendulum clocks”, a craft learnt maybe during their seasonal migration to Bohemia and Germany. This tradition is remembered in the Clockwork Museum at Pesariis, but the whole village is an open air museum. In its streets and squares you will see all kinds of clocks. They are all examples of perfect precision and some are really art objects: a clock with giant hands, a water clockwork, a 1770 meridian, clocks with a grid- patterned face, an automaton clock and a planets’clock with a “cosmic” face painted in blue, on a house front.

At Sutrio, one of the first “albergo diffuso” or “hotel-village” in Friuli Venezia Giulia, streets and squares are adorned with wooden sculptures by local artists and artisans

A lady of Pesariis

For tourists used to city life, the next village in the valley is another big surprise. Sutrio, the village of wooden crèches and wood carvers, it is also the first “albergo diffuso” or “hotel-village“, opened in Friuli Venezia Giulia in the mid Nineties. At Christmas time you can admire the mechanic crèche, with tens of figures in different roles. Walking in the village you will see quite a number of wooden statues, lending Sutrio’s silent lanes an unusual, almost magic, atmosphere. In this land of Carnia, the villages’ inhabitants still feel they are members of a community and unite to preserve traditions and crafts. This spirit is behind the creation of Sutrio-Borgo Soandri’s Albergo diffuso, an unusual hotel, consisting of a network of old houses with common services: cleaning, a detached reception, a promotion office, etc.. The houses are owned by Sutrio’s inhabitants, so the people benefiting from tourism are the same who smile at tourists in the streets. (www.clubalbergodiffuso.it/pagine/borgosoandri.html). For information and bookings: tel.0433.466220 www.carnia.it  and  www.turismofvg.it

Cjarsòns, or sweet ravioli

“Cjarsons” at the “Bellavista Restaurant”, Ravascletto. They are like “ravioli”, but delicately sweet. They are made of flour and local potatoes, with a filling of fresh “ricotta” cheese, herbs, raisins, ground walnuts, eggs and raspberry jam, and served with different seasonings

Among the most typical dishes of Carnian cuisine, we find the cjarsòns, similar to italian ravioli, but delicately sweet. They are made of flour and local potatoes and stuffed with a filling of fresh ricotta cheese, herbs, raisins, ground walnuts, eggs, raspberry jam. Cjarsòns are served in different ways: with butter, with cinnamon, with breadcrumbs and grated ricotta cheese, or with cocoa. Among the restaurants where you can taste them, we recommend the Bellavista, at Ravascletto, where cooks Dina and Claudio prepare them personally and with the utmost care (Bill: € 25  www.bellavistaravascletto.it).

A land of churches and bell towers

Among the most evocative Carnian churches, we can mention the ones standing in a panoramic position on Saint Peter’s Hill at Zuglio: Saint Peter’s parish church and the 15^th century Santa Maria in Monte. Saint Peter’s is the oldest parish church in Carnia. In the Romanesque building, enlarged and partly modified at the beginning of the 16^th century, you can admire some beautiful altars: the wooden carved altar by Domenico da Tolmezzo (1494), the Madonna del Rosario‘s altar by Gian Antonio De Agostinis (1590) and the 15^th century Sant’Antonio’s altar by Gian Domenico Dall’Occhio. In the vestry there are frescos by Giulio Urbanis (1572).

The Carnian Museum at Tolmezzo

A room in the ”Museum of Crafts and Folk Traditions” at Tolmezzo

The Michele Gortani Carnian Museum of Crafts and Folk Traditions is at Tolmezzo, in Palazzo Campeis. It houses objects related to Carnia’s everyday life throughout the centuries: its traditions, costumes, agricultural and industrial activities. There are interesting collections of tools and country clothes, reconstructions of typical Carnian houses and shops, with their different interiors. (www.museocarnico.it)

Zuglio, archeology among the mountains

More than seventy years ago, in the ancient Roman site Julium Carnicum in the Bût valley, archeologists were able to dig up some interesting ruins: the Forum, surrounded by an arcade of slender columns, a temple, a two-floor basilica with mosaics, houses, the baths. The objects found during the excavations are now visible at the Julium Carnicum Civic Archeological Museum, where finds from other archeological areas in Carnia are also kept. Info www.comune.zuglio.ud.it

Prosciutto story

The maturing process of Igp Sauris ham