 Actually, the Romance place name "Sauris", possibly derived from Illyrian "Savira" ("current"), was already mentioned in the 12th century.German peasants probably immigrated from the Tyrolean Hochpustertal and the adjacent Lesachtal in the north.Like the historic Cadore region in the west, Carnia had belonged to the ecclesiastical Patria del Friuli (Patriarchate of Aquileia) since 1077 and passed from the Holy Roman Empire to the Republic of Venice by 1420.