What is Alagna Valsesia known for?

Settled from the Swiss Valais in the 13th century; the wooden houses of Pedemonte and Riale are 1500s and 1600s originals. South face of the 4,638-meter massif rises directly above the village, anchor of the 180-kilometer Monterosa Ski domain. Off-piste descents from Punta Indren and the Passo dei Salati, the reason the village is on the international ski map.

Where is Alagna Valsesia?

Alagna Valsesia is a comune in the province of Vercelli, Piedmont region of Italy, about 93 kilometers from Novara.

Piedmont · Vercelli

Alagna Valsesia

A Walser village at 1,191 meters under Monte Rosa, settled from the Swiss Valais in the 13th century and known to off-piste skiers worldwide.

1191m

Elevation

93 km / 58 mi

Nearest hub (Novara)

712

Population

Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Bandiera Arancione

Why come

Alagna Valsesia sits at 1,191 meters at the head of the Valsesia, directly under the south face of Monte Rosa, the second-highest peak in the Alps at 4,638 meters. Walser settlers from the Swiss Valais reached the upper valley in the thirteenth century and stayed; their wood-and-stone houses, built between 1500 and 1700, still line the hamlets of Pedemonte, Riale and Resiga. The commune covers 72.8 square kilometers, the largest by surface area in the province of Vercelli. The Guides Association of Alagna was founded in 1872, the second-oldest in Italy after Courmayeur. The lifts opened in stages from the 1950s; today Alagna is the eastern access to Monterosa Ski, a 180-kilometer domain that crosses into the Aosta Valley. Internationally, the village is known less for groomed pistes than for the Monte Rosa freeride terrain, the off-piste descents from Punta Indren and the Passo dei Salati. The Bandiera Arancione of the Touring Club fires here.

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Gallery

7 photos · scroll →

Known for

Frazione Pedemonte
Oldest Walser hamlet in Alagna, with three-storey wooden houses dating from the 1500s and 1600s, still in their original form.
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 linking Alagna, Gressoney and Champoluc across three valleys, the eastern gateway to the Monte Rosa massif.
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.

When to visit

Best months · Jun–Sep, Dec–Mar

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

December through March is the ski season Alagna built around itself: lifts open, the Monterosa domain links to the Aosta Valley, and the freeride routes off Punta Indren run as long as the snow holds. June through September is the second season, when the same valleys become hiking and via ferrata country and the temperatures rarely break 22 degrees. April, May, October and November are quiet shoulder months. The lifts close, many hotels close with them, and the village contracts to its year-round population of seven hundred. The Walser houses in winter snow are the picture that keeps appearing in ski magazines.