Piemonte · Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
Macugnaga
A Walser village at 1,327 meters at the foot of the east wall of Monte Rosa, founded in the 13th century by colonists from Valais.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Macugnaga is on our list
It holds Bandiera Arancione.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar
- By car
- 2 h 12 min from Milan
- Population
- 496
- J3°
- F5°
- M5°
- A9°
- M13°
- J18°
- J21°
- A21°
- S16°
- O12°
- N7°
- D3°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Macugnaga sits at 1,327 meters at the head of the Anzasca valley, directly beneath the east wall of Monte Rosa, the second-highest summit in western Europe at 4,634 meters. The village was founded in the 13th century by Walser colonists from the Swiss canton of Valais, who crossed the Monte Moro pass and settled the upper basin in the 1200s. Their dark-timbered houses still stand in Borca, Staffa and Pestarena; the Walser Museum in Borca documents the German-speaking culture that held the valley for seven hundred years.
The Chiesa Vecchia, mentioned in a 1317 document, sits beside the Vecchio Tiglio, a linden tree the University of Turin dates to around 500 years old, traditionally used for community assemblies. The east wall of Monte Rosa was first climbed from here in 1872, by Richard Pendlebury's party with the guide Ferdinand Imseng. The mines at Guia and Pestarena produced industrial gold from 1710 until 1961.
How to get there
From Milan Bergamo (BGY), about 2 h 40 min by car.
Turin (TRN) is about 2 h 41 min away.
By car from the center of Brescia 3 h 2 min.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
East wall of Monte Rosa
The 2,400-meter rock and ice face above the village, the largest in the Alps, first climbed in 1872 by Pendlebury and Imseng.
Chiesa Vecchia
13th-century Walser parish church first documented in 1317, with a frescoed bell tower and a cemetery of climbers.
Vecchio Tiglio
Linden tree beside the Chiesa Vecchia, eight meters in circumference, used by the Walser for community assemblies.
Museo della Casa Walser
Walser house museum in the Borca hamlet, documenting the Germanic-Alemannic culture of the Anzasca valley.
Miniera della Guia
Gold mine active from 1710 to 1961, the first industrial gold extraction site in the Alps, now open as a museum mine.
Living here
Could you live here?
Macugnaga is at the end of the road.
- A village of 496. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Villadossola, is 56 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Verbania, a city of 29,953, is 1 h 16 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 496, down 12.4% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Verbania, 1 h 16 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Domodossola, 28 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,700 to €2,500 per m² to buy, €5.40 to €7.80 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Remote
- Pharmacy in town
- Nearest high school over ~30 minutes away
- Full fibre reaches 99% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Milan Malpensa airport (MXP), 1 h 37 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Turin, 2 h 41 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
2% of residents are foreign citizens, against 9% across Italy. There are 767 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. Verbano-Cusio-Ossola province ranks 61st of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Domodossola, 28 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Aosta, 57 km away. The nearest IB school is International School of Como, 87 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is European School Varese, 67 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 0.8% to your income tax, with nothing due on income under €8,000. 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. 7% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 17% in a high or medium one. 19% 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
MONTE ROSA
The east wall rises 2,600 meters to the 4,634-meter summit directly above the village, the largest rock and ice face in the Alps.
WALSER
German-speaking colonists settled the upper Anzasca in the 13th century, leaving timber houses, a museum and the old linden.
GOLD MINES
The Guia and Pestarena mines produced industrial gold from 1710 to 1961, peak years yielding over 500 kg annually.
OSSOLANO
The commune lies inside the Ossolano DOP production zone.
Common questions
- What is Macugnaga known for?
- Macugnaga is a Walser village at 1,327 meters at the foot of the east wall of Monte Rosa, founded in the 13th century by colonists from Valais.
- Where is Macugnaga?
- Macugnaga is a comune in the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, in Piemonte, at 1327 meters above sea level.
- What is the nearest airport to Macugnaga?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Milan Malpensa (MXP), about 1 h 37 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Brescia to Macugnaga?
- About 3 h 2 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Macugnaga?
- Best in Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar. August is the warmest month, averaging 21 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 28 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Macugnaga?
- Fenestrelle, Usseaux and Castel del Monte.
- How many people live in Macugnaga?
- 496 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Macugnaga a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Macugnaga is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Villadossola, is 56 min away. The nearest city, Verbania, is 1 h 16 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Domodossola, 28 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 99% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 1327 m
- Population: 496
- Surface area: 99.57 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.
Similar
Towns like Macugnaga
What all six share with Macugnaga: high in the mountains · under 1,000 people
Fenestrelle
Province: Torino
both mountain towns above 1,000 metres
Usseaux
Province: Torino
both mountain towns above 1,000 metres
Castel del Monte
Province: L'Aquila
both mountain towns above 1,000 metres
Gressoney-Saint-Jean
Province: Aosta Valley
both mountain towns above 1,000 metres
Luserna
Province: Trento
both mountain towns above 1,000 metres
Monteviasco
Province: Varese
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