Claut, at the head of the Valcellina: low prices, December shade and a hospital across the regional border

Claut lies at 618 m in the upper Valcellina, between Barcis and Cimolais. Part of its land lies within the Friulian Dolomites Nature Park, and the park runs a visitor centre in the village. Its land climbs to 2,449 m. The hamlets around it are Pinedo, Lesis, Cellino di Sopra and di Sotto, Contron, Mattan and Basoia.

• Population: change since 2001 -28%, average age 52.1, aged 65 and over 33%.
• Housing: at the 2011 census over half the homes, 54%, were not lived in by residents, second homes included; buildings with flats or houses put up before 1971 account for 79%.
• In the village (OpenStreetMap): 2 supermarkets, 1 pharmacy, one primary school and one middle school, but nothing beyond.
• Winter sport: the council's ice rink is home to the national federal curling centre and is open for skating in winter.
• The area: the Friulian Dolomites.

The low winter sun stays behind the mountains. At the town hall the terrain model gives 14 consecutive days without direct sunlight around Christmas, and no other town hall in the region has even one. Days with under three hours: 44. Across the hamlets the gap is wide:

Within 250 metres of the town hall the best spot gets 2 h 46 min. Then the days recover: a month after the solstice there are 4 h 11 min of sunshine, and 7 h 42 min on 21 February. These are clear-sky calculations from the terrain, so a house has to be measured where it stands (the method).

The reference 24-hour emergency department is Pordenone's, 54 min by car without traffic; the San Martino hospital in Belluno, over the border in the Veneto, takes 52 min. Neighbouring Cimolais and Erto e Casso already have an agreement between the two Regions. On 16 October 2026 the regional government approved the draft of one for Claut (resolution no. 1504): specialist visits, rehabilitation and dialysis with the Ulss 1 Dolomiti health authority, the Belluno hospice and, in emergencies and at the request of the 112 control room, the Longarone ambulance and the Pieve di Cadore air ambulance. It still has to be signed and would run until 31 December 2027.

Udine, with the region's most specialised departments, means a 1 h 33 min drive (hospitals and A&E).

The tax agency's OMI observatory splits Claut in two. The main village and the hamlets that run into it (Piazza San Giorgio, Via Toti, Viale don Bortolotto): ordinary homes at €600/m²–€800/m², detached houses at €700/m²–€950/m². The mountain farmland with the smaller hamlets: €500/m²–€700/m². The 2021 figures were the same.

• Turnover: 16 sales in 2025 against 9 in 2024, 1.4% of the housing stock; small numbers that jump about from year to year.
• Budget: at these values €200,000 pays for 310 m².
• Letting: OMI rent €2.8/m² a month. Because the commissioner's decree on the rains of 31 October–1 November 2010 lists Claut, a canone concordato lease is taxed at 10% (where it applies). Tourism is modest, 9,200 overnight stays in 2025, more in summer (54%) than in winter.

• Heating: there is no mains gas. For LPG used in 2025, the regional budget law gives households, through the council, up to €2.20 per cubic metre.
• ILIA 2026: 0.91% for second and further homes in general, 0.70% for the single «seconda casa» an owner notifies (how it works).
• Buying to live here: Claut counts as fully mountainous under regional law, so the first-home grant rises to €15,500, or €20,000 under 36 (who qualifies).
• Hazards: seismic zone 2; by ISPRA's maps, 4.6% of buildings stand where flooding is a medium hazard and 4.9% in landslide areas rated high or very high.
• Internet: 88.3% of households can order FTTH.
• Distances: Pordenone 57 min, motorway 59 min, Venice airport 1 h 30 min, skiing at Piancavallo 47 min, the beach at Bibione 1 h 46 min.