Aosta Valley · Aosta Valley
Saint-Vincent
A belle-époque thermal town on a sunny south-facing terrace at 575m, where a mineral spring, a landmark casino, and a Matterhorn view north of town define a resort built for the 19th-century cure.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Saint-Vincent is on our list.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 23 min from Turin
- Population
- 4,417
- J8°
- F11°
- M12°
- A15°
- M20°
- J24°
- J28°
- A28°
- S22°
- O19°
- N13°
- D9°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
The commune sits 28 km east of Aosta along the main Aosta–Turin road, on a south-facing terrace whose sunny microclimate earned it the local nickname 'Riviera delle Alpi', a name coined for the 19th-century elite who traveled here for the thermal cure. The spring itself was found by the local parish priest Jean-Baptiste Perret, who had it declared therapeutic for digestive and urinary disorders, and the spa grew up around that spring over the following century, reaching the form it still has today.
The town reads in layers built on top of each other rather than side by side: a Roman bath complex underlies the medieval church, and its mosaic floors survive below the nave where the crypt now sits. A 19th-century resort streetscape, the centro storico, the Casa Lo Presti, the Liberty-era seafront-style promenade, sits over that older settlement. Above the centro again, a glass-and-steel rotunda from the 1960s houses the gaming halls, a distinct, later addition sitting physically over the older resort quarter. A funicular climbs the hillside behind the town for the view. North of town the Matterhorn appears on clear days; south, the Mont Avic Regional Park lies 15 km off.
Food follows the same French-leaning Valdostan pattern as the town's layered history: fontina, Mocetta, polenta concia, and French-style patisseries on the corso, alongside the local white wines from the vineyards just below town. The year turns on the Carnevale Storico in February, with its medieval costumed processions, and the Saint Vincent Tourisme jazz festival in late June.
What holds the town together is that sequence of eras stacked on one terrace: Roman, medieval, belle-époque, and postwar, each still visible rather than replacing the one before it.
How to get there
From Turin (TRN), about 1 h 20 min by car.
Milan Bergamo (BGY) is about 2 h 35 min away.
By car from the center of Genoa 2 h 44 min.
Coming by train into Torino Porta Susa? Saint-Vincent is about 1 h 20 min away by road.
Every town within reach of Turin airport.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Terme di Saint-Vincent + Fonte Salée
The drinking-cure and balneotherapy still run on the same 11°C water as 250 years ago, inside the Liberty-era building that has housed the baths since 1928.
Casinò de la Vallée
23 gaming tables and 600 slots fill a 1960s glass rotunda set above the centro, drawing a different crowd from the spa quarter below it.
Collegiata di San Vincenzo + Roman crypt
The 15th-century nave sits directly over the older structure, and the crypt below it is where the Roman-era mosaic floors are actually seen.
Cremagliera + Matterhorn views
The funicular climbs the hillside behind town to a panoramic point where the peak shows itself on clear days.
Petite Arvine vineyards
The vineyards sit on a south-facing slope just below town, with cellar visits available in town itself.
From the guides
Where to eat
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.
Le GrenierRistorante
Le Grenier holds a spot in the Michelin Guide.
Before you sit down: how to order at a restaurant, how to spot a tourist trap, what aperitivo is and how the Italian bar works.
Living here
Could you live here?
Saint-Vincent is at the end of the road.
- A village of 4,417. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Aosta, is 43 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Aosta, a city of 33,096, is 34 min by car. Inside our 30 to 60 minutes: close for the services, far enough to keep its own life.
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 4,417, down 5.6% since 2015
- Nearest city Aosta, 34 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Aosta, 27 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €1,200 to €1,750 per m² to buy, €5.00 to €7.50 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Commuter belt
- Pharmacy in town
- Full fibre reaches 60% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 3, low hazard
- Turin airport (TRN), 1 h 20 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Aosta, 34 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
9% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Morocco and Albania, against 9% across Italy. 12 of them come from English-speaking countries or western and northern Europe, mostly the United Kingdom. There are 286 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 48% 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, 27 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, 71 km as the crow flies.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.95% 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 between 0.35% and 0.6% to your income tax, depending on your income, with nothing due on income under €15,000. 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 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. 2% of residents live in a zone the national maps rate high for floods, 4% 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.
Thermal baths in town: Terme di Saint Vincent.
Known for
ALPINE RIVIERA SPA
Fonte Salée mineral spring since 1770, full 1928 Stile Liberty spa building. The 'Riviera delle Alpi' nickname dates to the 19th-c elite cure-takers.
CASINÒ DE LA VALLÉE
Italy's first legal casino outside Sanremo (1947), now the country's second-largest. Underwrites the Aosta Valley regional budget.
ROMAN BATH UNDER THE CHURCH
Collegiata di San Vincenzo built over a 1st-c AD Roman bath complex, the mosaic floors are visible in the crypt.
PETITE ARVINE WINE
South-facing vineyards just below town produce the Aosta Valley's two distinctive whites, Petite Arvine and Müller Thurgau.
Common questions
- What is Saint-Vincent known for?
- Saint-Vincent is a belle-époque thermal town on a sunny south-facing terrace at 575m, where a mineral spring, a landmark casino, and a Matterhorn view north of town define a resort built for the 19th-century cure.
- Where is Saint-Vincent?
- Saint-Vincent is a comune in the Aosta Valley.
- What is the nearest airport to Saint-Vincent?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Turin (TRN), about 1 h 20 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Genoa to Saint-Vincent?
- About 2 h 44 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Saint-Vincent?
- Best in Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct. August is the warmest month, averaging 28 degrees, and May the wettest, with about 19 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Saint-Vincent?
- Châtillon, Fénis and Chiusa di Pesio.
- How many people live in Saint-Vincent?
- 4,417 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Saint-Vincent a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Saint-Vincent is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Aosta, is 43 min away. The nearest city, Aosta, is 34 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Aosta, 27 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 60% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 575 m
- Population: 4,417
- Surface area: 20.57 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 Saint-Vincent
What all six share with Saint-Vincent: hill towns
Châtillon
Province: Aosta Valley
both in the Aosta valley · both between 3,000 and 10,000 people
Fénis
Province: Aosta Valley
both in the Aosta valley
Chiusa di Pesio
Province: Cuneo
both between 3,000 and 10,000 people
Dogliani
Province: Cuneo
both between 3,000 and 10,000 people
Guarene
Province: Cuneo
both between 3,000 and 10,000 people
Castagnole delle Lanze
Province: Asti
both between 3,000 and 10,000 people
The letter
Saint-Vincent 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 Saint-Vincent comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Camogli, 195 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.