Living in Trasaghis: hamlets on Lake Cavazzo, where home sales doubled in 2025

Trasaghis is really six villages: the main one, Braulins, Peonis, Alesso, Oncedis and Avasinis. The land climbs from 157 m to 1,577 m, and the Region classes all of it as mountain territory.

• A shrinking population: 2,091 residents, -17% on 2001; average age 51.0, with 31% over 65.
• Homes without residents: 33% at the 2011 census, holiday homes included (what that figure counts).
• Owners: in 2011, 86% of families were owner-occupiers.
• Services (OpenStreetMap): a chemist and 2 Poste Italiane branches, plus primary and lower-secondary schooling; for a big shop you leave the municipality (the nearest supermarket is 2.6 km away).
• Visitors: 14,800 nights in 2025, 66% of them in summer, 73% by foreign guests.

Our Gemonese guide covers Gemona, Venzone and Bordano next door.

It is the largest natural lake in Friuli Venezia Giulia, shared between Trasaghis, Bordano and Cavazzo Carnico. Since the 1950s it has taken the outflow of the Somplago hydroelectric plant: water at around 4 °C in winter and 12 °C in summer, which according to the experts appointed by the three councils has cooled the lake by about 5 °C and thinned out its fish and plant life. Their technical panel, set up under a 2019 regional law, has set out options for bringing the lake back towards its natural state.

Swimming is allowed: ARPA monitors two spots on the Trasaghis shore, one in front of the campsite and one further east. If you are buying for the summer, expect the water to be colder than it would be without the power station.

In the Revenue Agency's regional statistics, Trasaghis goes from 16 to 32 sales between 2024 and 2025: among the 8 towns of the foothill district, only Gemona records more, with Forgaria level. Values have not moved: in 2024 OMI redrew the zones, but today's ranges are those of five years ago.

• Detached houses: €600/m²–€900/m² in the central zone.
• Budget: €200,000 buys 340 m² at OMI values, more than in Gemona (220 m²).
• Letting: OMI rent of €2.1/m² a month, so 4.3% gross on paper. The town appears on the list of storm-damaged municipalities signed off by the special commissioner in February 2010, after the floods of December 2009; landlords on a «concordato» lease may therefore choose to be taxed at 10% (the full list).
• Buying to live here: in a fully mountain municipality the regional first-home grant is €15,500 (€20,000 under 36), but as a rule you need 5 of the last 8 years' residence in the region (who qualifies).
• ILIA 2026: the council charges 0.80% on second homes, lets and empty properties (resolution of 17 December 2025), 0.70% on the one second home that qualifies for the reduced rate (how).

• Seismic risk: zone 1; in 1976 intensity here reached 9-10 on the Mercalli scale (what it means).
• Floods: 6.5% of buildings are in medium flood-hazard areas, above the regional median (4.9%).
• Landslides: 3.9% of buildings fall inside the two worst landslide classes, P3 and P4 (the hazard maps).
• Sun on 21 December: 7 h 40 min at the town hall and 7 h 40 min in Braulins; 6 h 27 min in Peonis, 5 h 39 min in Alesso and just 3 h 44 min in Avasinis. Between hamlets a few kilometres apart the gap is measured in hours, not minutes (the calculation).

• A&E: Tolmezzo, 21 min. Of all the municipalities in our mountain area, Trasaghis is the closest to Udine's hub hospital: 32 min (hospitals).
• Rail: the nearest trains leave from Gemona, 6 min by car, running through to Udine.
• Roads: Gemona-Osoppo motorway junction 9 min, Udine 34 min, Klagenfurt 1 h 35 min.
• Snow and sea: Zoncolan 49 min, Nassfeld in Austria 54 min; the sea at Sistiana 1 h 2 min.