Aosta Valley · Aosta Valley
Fontainemore
A 447-person Walser-influenced village at 760 meters in the Lys Valley, marked by its stone bridge and a five-yearly pilgrimage to Oropa.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Fontainemore is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia.
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 22 min from Turin
- Population
- 447
- J7°
- F9°
- M10°
- A14°
- M17°
- J22°
- J24°
- A25°
- S20°
- O15°
- N10°
- D7°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Fontainemore is the easternmost commune of the Aosta Valley, set against the Mont Mars Nature Reserve in the middle of the Lys Valley. The Lys was settled in the Middle Ages by Walser communities from the upper valley, who left fragments of patois further upstream along with their building style. The toponym comes from either Fontaine de Saint-Maur or Fontaine de la mort, the second tied to local legend rather than record.
The historic center and the parish church sit close together at the valley floor, the working part of the village grouped around its bridge, while the reserve and the pilgrimage track rise above toward the pass. Fontainemore was admitted to Borghi più Belli d'Italia in September 2023. The village reads as a settlement shaped as much by the route passing over it as by the valley it sits in: a crossing point first, a destination after.
How to get there
From Turin (TRN), about 1 h 19 min by car.
Milan Bergamo (BGY) is about 2 h 34 min away.
By car from the center of Genoa 2 h 42 min.
Coming by train into Torino Porta Susa? Fontainemore is about 1 h 18 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Turin airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Ponte medievale sul Lys
The arch clears the river next to the parish church and carries a footpath rather than road traffic, having outlasted its original use.
Chiesa parrocchiale di San Giovanni Battista
Dedicated to John the Baptist, the church has stood as the religious center of the village since the late Middle Ages, set right beside the bridge.
Centro storico
The rows sit tight together: haylofts, stalls and houses under one layout, balconies still carrying flowers against the stone and wood.
Riserva Naturale Mont Mars
A regional reserve rising above the village, crossed by the mule track that carries the Colle della Balma pilgrimage route toward Oropa.
Mulattiera per il Santuario di Oropa
The track climbs over the Colle della Balma, worn by generations of walkers making the same crossing toward the Black Madonna every five years.
Living here
Could you live here?
Fontainemore is at the end of the road.
- A village of 447. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Ivrea, is 51 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Aosta, a city of 33,096, is 1 h 1 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.
- Population 447, down 1.3% since 2015
- Nearest city Aosta, 1 h 1 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Ponderano, 20 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,200 to €1,600 per m² to buy, €2.90 to €3.40 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- In-between
- Pharmacy: none mapped
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 27% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Turin airport (TRN), 1 h 19 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Aosta, 1 h 1 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
10% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Morocco, Argentina and Romania, against 9% across Italy. There are 284 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 73% 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 Ponderano, 20 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Aosta, 45 km away. The nearest children's emergency room is in Ivrea, 22 km away. The nearest IB school is World International School of Torino, 63 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.76% 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. 10% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 26% in a high or medium one. 37% 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
OROPA PILGRIMAGE
Five-yearly procession to the Sanctuary of Oropa over the Colle della Balma, documented since 1557, among the oldest Marian walks in the western Alps.
MEDIEVAL BRIDGE
Single-arch stone bridge from around 1200, spanning 22 meters across the Lys next to the parish church, intact and still walkable.
WALSER STONE
Walser-influenced architecture in the historic center: stone and wood houses with flower-decked balconies, haylofts and stalls grouped in tight rows.
Common questions
- What is Fontainemore known for?
- Fontainemore is a 447-person Walser-influenced village at 760 meters in the Lys Valley, marked by its stone bridge and a five-yearly pilgrimage to Oropa.
- Where is Fontainemore?
- Fontainemore is a comune in the Aosta Valley.
- What is the nearest airport to Fontainemore?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Turin (TRN), about 1 h 19 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Genoa to Fontainemore?
- About 2 h 42 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Fontainemore?
- Best in May–Oct. August is the warmest month, averaging 25 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 20 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Fontainemore?
- Navelli, Castelmezzano and Castel San Pietro Romano.
- How many people live in Fontainemore?
- 447 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Fontainemore a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Fontainemore is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Ivrea, is 51 min away. The nearest city, Aosta, is 1 h 1 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Ponderano, 20 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 27% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 760 m
- Population: 447
- Surface area: 31.71 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 Fontainemore appears in
Featured on
Fontainemore appears on this themed pick from our Collections:
Similar
Towns like Fontainemore
What all six share with Fontainemore: mountain-valley towns · under 1,000 people · high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
The letter
Fontainemore is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Fontainemore comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Camogli, 176 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.