Sauris

Sauris (Zahre in the local German language) is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Udine in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about 120 kilometres (75 mi) northwest of Trieste and about 60 kilometres (37 mi) northwest of Udine. It is located in Val Lumiei, Carnia. Since its foundation in the mid-13th century, Sauris has been a German language island inside Friuli and has been able to preserve that status until the present day because of its isolated location. The local dialect, Saurano, preserves archaic features of the Tyrolean dialect to which it is related. However, the population is in large part trilingual, also able to speak Italian and Friulian. The comune falls under article 29 of the Regional Law of 18 December 2007 concerning Friulian, under which the Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia established official nomenclature in both standard Friulian and the local forms of Friulian of those comuni in which Friulian is a de facto language, and also the regional laws 4/99 and 20/2009, establishing linguistic minority rights and aid for the German-speaking populations within Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Sauris borders the following municipalities: Ampezzo, Forni di Sopra, Forni di Sotto, Ovaro, Prato Carnico, Vigo di Cadore. References External links web site