Piemonte · Vercelli
Alagna Valsesia
A Walser village at 1,191 meters, at the head of the Valsesia, known to off-piste skiers worldwide.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Alagna Valsesia is on our list
It holds Bandiera Arancione.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar
- By car
- 2 h 9 min from Milan
- Population
- 725
- J5°
- F7°
- M7°
- A10°
- M14°
- J19°
- J21°
- A21°
- S17°
- O13°
- N8°
- D5°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Alagna sits at the head of the Valsesia, at 1,191 meters, where the valley closes against the south face of Monte Rosa, the second-highest peak in the Alps. Since the 2019 merger with Riva Valdobbia the commune covers about 133 square kilometers, and its territory reaches from the valley floor up to the glaciers, which is why a single village can hold both the wooden hamlets of the Walser settlers and the lift stations of a major ski domain.
Those settlers came from the Swiss Valais in the thirteenth century and stayed, building in wood and stone between 1500 and 1700; the hamlets of Pedemonte, Riale and Resiga carry that building tradition still. The Guides Association of Alagna, founded in 1872, is the second-oldest in Italy after Courmayeur, a marker of how early the peaks above the village drew climbers rather than skiers. The lifts came later, opening in stages from the 1950s, and Alagna is now the eastern access to a domain that crosses into the Aosta Valley. Internationally the village is known less for groomed pistes than for the freeride terrain on the massif itself. The Bandiera Arancione of the Touring Club fires here.
The two identities, Walser hamlet and freeride terminus, sit on the same ground because the valley that sheltered thirteenth-century settlers is the same one that funnels skiers up toward the glaciers today.
How to get there
From Turin (TRN), about 2 h 17 min by car.
Milan Bergamo (BGY) is about 2 h 36 min away.
By car from the center of Genoa 2 h 58 min.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Frazione Pedemonte
Three-storey wooden houses still standing in their original form, the oldest a Walser hamlet built in the 1500s and 1600s.
Museo Walser
Opened in 1976 in a 1628 Walser house in Pedemonte, reconstructing the interiors, tools and furnishings of a traditional German-Alpine household.
Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista
Parish church built in 1511, holding sculptures by Giovanni d'Enrico, the Valsesian sculptor active around the Sacro Monte di Varallo.
Monterosa Ski
180-kilometer ski domain crossing three valleys, from Alagna to Gressoney and Champoluc, the eastern gateway to the massif above the village.
Punta Indren e Passo dei Salati
Upper stations above Alagna, starting points for the off-piste descents that made the village a freeride reference in the Alps.
From the guides
Where to stay
Not our picks, but places the guides put their name to: a Michelin star, a Gambero Rosso fork, a Slow Food snail, a Michelin Key for the hotels. Worth a table, a counter, or a night when you pass through.
NH Collection Alagna Mirtillo RossoHotel
NH Collection Alagna Mirtillo Rosso has a place in the Michelin hotel guide to its name.
Living here
Could you live here?
Alagna Valsesia is at the end of the road.
- A village of 725. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Varallo, is 43 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Biella, a city of 43,181, is 1 h 37 min by car. Further than our 30 to 60 minutes, a long way for the hospital visit or the monthly shopping.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
We measured every town in the region on these rules, by its drive to Turin, the city we moved to: Moving to Turin and Piedmont.
- Population 725, up 8.5% since 2015
- Nearest city Biella, 1 h 37 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Borgosesia, 28 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €2,750 to €3,900 per m² to buy, €7.20 to €10.60 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Very remote
- Pharmacy in town
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Full fibre reaches 69% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Milan Malpensa airport (MXP), 1 h 50 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Turin, 2 h 17 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
4% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from the United Kingdom, against 9% across Italy. 12 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom. There are 251 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 85% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Vercelli province ranks 60th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Borgosesia, 28 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Aosta, 51 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Ivrea, 44 km away. The nearest IB school is World International School of Torino, 86 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is European School Varese, 68 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 1.06% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. The town adds 0.3% to your income tax. 7% pensioner tax: this town is not in a qualifying area.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Piemonte spends about €2,240 a month, €580 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €467 a year for water, on the Piemonte average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone F, the coldest of Italy's six, with no national limit on when the heating runs. 9% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 17% in a high or medium one. 20% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
WALSER
Settled from the Swiss Valais in the 13th century; the wooden houses of Pedemonte and Riale are 1500s and 1600s originals.
MONTE ROSA
South face of the 4,634-meter massif rises directly above the village, anchor of the 180-kilometer Monterosa Ski domain.
FREERIDE
Off-piste descents from Punta Indren and the Passo dei Salati, the reason the village is on the international ski map.
Common questions
- What is Alagna Valsesia known for?
- Alagna Valsesia is a Walser village at 1,191 meters, at the head of the Valsesia, known to off-piste skiers worldwide.
- Where is Alagna Valsesia?
- Alagna Valsesia is a comune in the province of Vercelli, in Piemonte, at 1191 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Alagna Valsesia?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Milan Malpensa (MXP), about 1 h 50 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Genoa to Alagna Valsesia?
- About 2 h 58 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Alagna Valsesia?
- Best in Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar. August is the warmest month, averaging 21 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 27 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Alagna Valsesia?
- Barrea, Rivisondoli and Sauris.
- How many people live in Alagna Valsesia?
- 725 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Alagna Valsesia a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Alagna Valsesia is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Varallo, is 43 min away. The nearest city, Biella, is 1 h 37 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Borgosesia, 28 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 69% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 1191 m
- Population: 725
- Surface area: 133.17 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
The ranked lists
Lists Alagna Valsesia appears in
- The best small towns inside a nature park in PiemontePiemonteinside a parksmall6 towns · smallest 174 residents
- The best towns worth staying overnight in PiemontePiemonteworth staying overnight7 towns · smallest 497 residents
- The best ski towns in PiemontePiemonteski area8 towns · smallest 496 residents
- The best mountain towns in PiemontePiemontemountain10 towns · smallest 87 residents
- The best towns inside a nature park in PiemontePiemonteinside a park10 towns · smallest 174 residents
Similar
Towns like Alagna Valsesia
What all six share with Alagna Valsesia: high in the mountains · under 1,000 people · mountain towns above 1,000 metres
The letter
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