Friulian Dolomites and Val Tramontina: life in Friuli's emptiest valleys

The regional landscape plan calls these the «western high valleys». In the west lie the Valcellina (Barcis, Andreis, Claut, Cimolais) and the Vajont valley with Erto e Casso; in the east the Val Tramontina, Frisanco, Clauzetto and Vito d'Asio.

After the Tarvisio area, no zone has lost a larger share of its people since 2001. Village by village:

Good for: those after silence and a big house on a small budget; a summer home (in Cimolais June to August account for 92% of tourist nights); remote work where fibre has arrived. Not for: anyone who must be minutes from a hospital, or who is elderly, alone and without a car.

• Claut is the largest village in the Valcellina and the only town hall in the region left entirely in shade on the shortest day: no direct sun for 14 days in a row at the town hall and 36 a little further on, in the village centre (winter sun).
• Erto e Casso is the village of the Vajont dam, scene of the 1963 disaster; today the Friulian Dolomites Nature Park takes visitors onto the crest of the dam. Fewer homes change hands here than in any other municipality with OMI data: 0.8% of the housing stock in 2025.
• Barcis lives on tourism: 33,200 overnight stays recorded in 2025 for 231 residents; the Piancavallo ski area is 30 min away.
• Clauzetto and Vito d'Asio, in the east, are the closest to a hospital; Clauzetto gets as much December sun as the plain.

The Valcellina and Erto e Casso are served by the A&E in Pordenone, the Val Tramontina by Spilimbergo, Clauzetto and Vito d'Asio by San Daniele. From Erto e Casso the hospital in Belluno is closer (37 min), though its emergency department is one we have not been able to verify (full network in hospitals and A&E).

• Pharmacies: 3 municipalities have none at all; from Andreis the nearest is 6.0 km as the crow flies.
• Gas: Andreis, Barcis, Cimolais and Claut have no methane network, so households there can claim regional help with the cost of bottled or tank gas.
• Roads: from Erto e Casso the nearest motorway is the A27 in the Veneto, 25 min away; reaching a Friulian motorway takes 56 min. There is no railway in the zone.

A flat at €565/m², a detached house at €640/m²: on these median values this is one of the two cheapest zones of Friuli, and Clauzetto (€525/m²) its least expensive municipality. These are OMI values for houses in ordinary condition; how a purchase works is explained in buying a house in Italy.

Supply is large and buyers are few: in 2011 half the municipalities had 64% or more of their housing without a registered resident.

All ten municipalities are classed as wholly mountainous, so residents who meet the requirements can receive a first-home grant of €15,500 (the grants).

• Winter: January averages −0.8 °C in Erto e Casso, with 111 frosty nights a year; on 21 December the typical municipal seat gets just 5 h 17 min of direct sunshine.
• Rain: Frisanco gets 2,390 mm a year, and no municipality here has less than 1,650 mm.
• Landslides: in Erto e Casso 12.2% of buildings stand in areas ISPRA classes as P3 or P4 (floods and landslides).
• Earthquakes: seismic zone 1 for 5 municipalities (Andreis, Barcis, Frisanco, Clauzetto, Vito d'Asio), zone 2 for the rest (what that means).
• Community: in Tramonti di Sopra 49% of residents are over 65.