Aosta Valley · Aosta Valley
Etroubles
A 476-person Alpine village at 1,280 meters, with an open-air contemporary art museum and the region's first dairy.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Etroubles is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia and Bandiera Arancione.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar
- By car
- 1 h 51 min from Turin
- Population
- 476
- J3°
- F6°
- M6°
- A9°
- M15°
- J21°
- J24°
- A24°
- S19°
- O14°
- N8°
- D3°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Etroubles sits at 1,280 meters on the Italian side of the pass, the last full village before the climb to the border. The Romans called it Restopolis, a transit point on the way to the Alpis Poenina, and the same line of travel became the pilgrimage route that later carried traffic between Canterbury and Rome and beyond. The village holds Borghi più Belli d'Italia and Bandiera Arancione status, a rare combination for a settlement of fewer than 500 people.
The historic center doubles as the open-air museum: sculptures, installations and contemporary works by international artists sit on house façades and in the squares, so a walk through the lanes and past the parish church is also a walk through a curated route of outdoor art. The first dairy in Valle d'Aosta opened on the road to the hamlet of Vachéry, founding the local Fontina production chain that still runs through the upper valley.
Summer brings La Veillà, an evening of revived old trades, wheat threshing and live cheesemaking, a reminder that the pass traffic and the dairy trade are the two things that built the village: one brought travelers through on their way to somewhere else, the other gave the place something of its own to make, sell, and be known for beyond the route across the border.
How to get there
From Turin (TRN), about 1 h 49 min by car.
Milan Bergamo (BGY) is about 3 h 18 min away.
By car from the center of Brescia 3 h 26 min.
Every town within reach of Turin airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Musée à ciel ouvert
Sculptures, installations and contemporary paintings fixed to house façades and set along the streets, turning a walk through the village into a curated route rather than a stroll past monuments.
Chiesa parrocchiale di Sainte-Marie-Madeleine
Parish church at the center of the village, dedicated to Mary Magdalene and rebuilt on earlier medieval foundations.
Centro storico
Stone-walled historic center with narrow lanes and traditional Valdostan houses with wooden balconies, the streets themselves lined with the museum's outdoor works.
Via Francigena
The Aosta Valley section of the pilgrimage route enters the village on its descent from the Great St Bernard Pass and continues toward Aosta and Ivrea, following the same line the Romans once used to reach the Alpis Poenina.
Prima latteria della Valle d'Aosta
Site of the region's first cooperative dairy, opened on 24 July 1853 along the road to the hamlet of Vachéry, the building still standing on that same stretch of road.
Living here
Could you live here?
Etroubles is at the end of the road.
- A village of 476. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Aosta, is 18 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Aosta, a city of 33,096, is 18 min by car. Closer than our 30 to 60 minutes: handy for everything, so check the town still keeps a life of its own.
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.
- Population 476, down 8.6% since 2015
- Nearest city Aosta, 18 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Aosta, 10 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,550 to €2,100 per m² to buy
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- Full fibre reaches 99% of homes
- No primary school in the comune's register
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Turin airport (TRN), 1 h 49 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Aosta, 18 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
9% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Morocco and Russia, against 9% across Italy. There are 233 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 65% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Aosta province ranks 13th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Aosta, 10 km as the crow flies, and it is a major one. It has a children's emergency room too. The nearest IB school is World International School of Torino, 85 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.8% 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. 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 Aosta Valley spends about €2,570 a month, €530 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €313 a year for water, on the Aosta Valley average. In Aosta, the provincial capital, in September 2026, an espresso cost €1.12, a meal in a pizzeria €13.45 and a man's haircut €20.20.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone F, the coldest of Italy's six, with no national limit on when the heating runs. 5% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 8% in a high or medium one. 8% 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
OPEN-AIR MUSEUM
Contemporary sculptures and installations from international artists embedded in the streets and house façades of a 476-person Alpine village.
VIA FRANCIGENA
Last major village on the Italian descent from the Great St Bernard Pass, on the route that linked Canterbury to Rome through the Aosta Valley.
FIRST DAIRY
Valle d'Aosta's first cooperative dairy opened here on 24 July 1853, anchoring the local Fontina chain that still defines the upper valley.
Common questions
- What is Etroubles known for?
- Etroubles is a 476-person Alpine village at 1,280 meters, with an open-air contemporary art museum and the region's first dairy.
- Where is Etroubles?
- Etroubles is a comune in the Aosta Valley, at 1280 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Etroubles?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Turin (TRN), about 1 h 49 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Brescia to Etroubles?
- About 3 h 26 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Etroubles?
- Best in Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar. July is the warmest month, averaging 24 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 16 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Etroubles?
- Gressoney-Saint-Jean, La Thuile and Fenestrelle.
- How many people live in Etroubles?
- 476 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Etroubles a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Etroubles is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Aosta, is 18 min away. The nearest city, Aosta, is 18 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Aosta, 10 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 99% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 1280 m
- Population: 476
- Surface area: 39.57 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.
Featured on
Etroubles appears on this themed pick from our Collections:
Similar
Towns like Etroubles
What all six share with Etroubles: high in the mountains · under 1,000 people · mountain towns above 1,000 metres
Gressoney-Saint-Jean
Province: Aosta Valley
1 h 45 min apart by road
La Thuile
Province: Aosta Valley
1 h 10 min apart by road
Fenestrelle
Province: Torino
2 h 56 min apart by road
Alagna Valsesia
Province: Vercelli
3 h 18 min apart by road
Usseaux
Province: Torino
3 h 2 min apart by road
Macugnaga
Province: Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
3 h 19 min apart by road
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