Gemona, Venzone or Bordano: three ways to live under the mountains

Gemona (10,439 people) is the small town: a station 2 min from the town hall, the A23 motorway 9 min away, secondary schools, and Udine 33 min south. Venzone (1,935 people) is a fourteenth-century walled village, a national monument since 1965, almost destroyed in 1976 and rebuilt by anastylosis, with its original stones. Bordano (697 people) is the small one, with mountains straight behind the houses: the town hall stands at 217 m, the municipality's highest point at 1,506 m.

Bordano is the cheapest: the Revenue Agency's observatory (OMI) puts a flat at €590/m² and a detached house at €750/m². In Venzone houses are worth less per square metre than flats (€690/m² against €750/m²). Gemona is dearer and the only one of the three where values moved last year (+3.1%).

Buildings are young here, because the area was rebuilt after 1976. In the 2011 census, buildings older than 1971 were 4% of the total in Venzone, 19% in Bordano and 22% in Gemona. The region's first-home grant is €15,500 in Venzone and Bordano, which count as fully mountain municipalities, and €10,500 in Gemona; the usual catch is 5 years' residence out of the last 8, which most newcomers cannot show (the requirements).

Direct sunlight on 21 December, calculated for a clear sky at the town hall:

• Bordano: 5 h 37 min, between 08:44 and 14:21. A south-western ridge ends the day early, so the sunny hours are the morning ones.
• Venzone: 5 h 15 min, between 10:12 and 15:27. A mountain to the south-east keeps the morning in shade; afternoons are brighter.
• Gemona: 7 h 43 min, between 08:40 and 16:23, a few kilometres further south.

The figure holds for one point: within 250 metres Gemona varies between 6 h 31 min and 7 h 56 min. Method: winter sun.

Gemona's first-aid point was 5 min from its town hall, 8 min from Venzone and 13 min from Bordano. It is missing from the Region's online service that shows open emergency units and their waiting times; a question in the regional council (October 2026) refers to its closure, while we have found no notice from the health authority. Since 1 December 2025 the town has had a Casa della Comunità offering GP-level care. With a heart attack or a suspected stroke, paramedics head for the hub in Udine, which is also the region's major trauma centre: 31 min from Gemona, 36 min from Bordano. All times: hospitals and A&E.

• Earthquakes: all three are in seismic zone 1, the highest. On 6 May 1976 the observed intensity was 9-10 on the MCS scale in Gemona and 9 in Venzone and Bordano; Gemona was not even classed as seismic then (what to ask about a house).
• Rain: it rains a lot. Only 4 municipalities in the region get more than Bordano.
• Broadband: Gemona and Bordano have fibre almost everywhere, Venzone does not, which matters if you work from home (the fibre map).
• Property tax (ILIA) on a second home you do not register: 1.06% in Bordano and Venzone, 0.76% in Gemona. Bordano raised it to the legal maximum for 2026 to get empty houses used again; registered as your first “second home” it is 0.70% (how it works).

• Gemona if you want shops, schools, a station and the motorway within minutes, plus the longest winter sun, and can pay more.
• Venzone if you want a historic village with trains on the doorstep (to Udine, plus Mi.Co.Tra. trains over the border to Villach) and Sella Nevea's slopes 41 min away; accept patchy broadband and late sun.
• Bordano if you want space for little money, fibre and morning sun, and can live with a tiny village, heavy rain and a high tax on an empty house. The nearest beach is 1 h 07 away, Venzone station 8 min.