Property with a great view

Great views are guaranteed from anyone who decides to snap up two heavyweight properties from BIG – the Austrian federal real estate company (Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft).The BIG is offering the 2,690-metre Großer Kinigat peak and the 2,600-metre Roßkopf for 121 euros. The tender for the land of 1.2 million square metres altogether – is open until 8 July.The Große Kinigat also comes with a war memorial in the form of a giant cross that was laid as a tribute to the soldiers who died when Italian troops tried to claim the strategically important peak. On its website BIG says the two peaks offer the “most stunning views of the Alps and are popular destinations for mountain climbers and hikers”.Nevertheless, the decision to put them up for sale has angered locals.”It’s a mystery to me why they’re wanting to sell the peaks right now,” the mayor of the tiny village of Kartitsch, Josef Ausserlechner, told local media.”In Greece, they’re selling off islands. In Austria, it’s the mountains.”Ausserlechner insisted the village of Kartitsch has right of first refusal, but could only afford to pay a symbolic price of “a couple of thousand of euros”.But whoever the new owners turned out to be, “they won’t be allowed to fence them off”, warmed Ausserlechner.