Alagna Valsesia sits at the end of the road beneath Monte Rosa, the second-highest massif in the Alps. The village is small and has a genuine Alpine character — stone and timber Walser houses, a handful of restaurants, and not much else besides the mountains. It is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognised in 2013 as part of the Monte Rosa landscape.
Skiers and snowboarders know Alagna as "Freeride Paradise." The terrain above the village is steep, off-piste and largely ungroomed, accessed by the Monterosa Ski cable car that climbs to nearly 3,000 metres on the Indren glacier. It connects to the Monterosa Ski area, which links into Gressoney and Champoluc on the Valle d'Aosta side. This is not a place for beginners, but experienced riders come from across Europe for the powder and the vertical.
In summer the mountains offer hiking and climbing, with trails leading up to the Monte Rosa huts and the high valleys around the glacier. The Walser Museum in the village tells the story of the Germanic Walser people who settled this remote valley in the 13th century, leaving a distinct architectural and cultural tradition that survives to this day. The village restaurants serve Piedmontese mountain food — polenta with cheese or meat sauce, miaccia (a local folded crêpe), and Toma cheese from the surrounding pastures.