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Borgosesia: what to know before buying a home

A municipality in the province of Vercelli, Piemonte. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Borgosesia

The report looks at the exact point: landslide and flood risk, seismic zone, price per square metre for the area, services and nearby stops.

For example: Corso Vercelli 1, Borgosesia.

Borgosesia, wool mills at the mouth of the Valsesia

Where the river Sesia leaves the mountains and the valley starts to open towards the plain, Borgosesia is the largest town in the lower Valsesia. It grew in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries around textile factories, mostly wool mills, and wool processing is still an important presence in the area. Wooded pre-Alpine slopes rise around it, dotted with hamlets.

The housing stock is mixed: houses on the valley floor near the river, early twentieth-century villas, apartment blocks from the industrial years, and hamlets on the slopes with steep lanes and stone houses. To reach Novara, Biella or Milan you mostly drive. The town is in climate zone E, with cold, damp winters, so in older houses insulation and the boiler make a real difference to running costs.

The population is ageing and shrinking. Istat, the national statistics office, counted 12,053 residents in 2023, down 7.5% on 2011; the estimated average age is 50.4, above the province (48.4), and over-65s make up 31.2%. Households are small, 2.04 people on average. The hospital and other healthcare facilities make Borgosesia a reference point for the valley: 1.49 per 1,000 residents against 0.68 in the province. Declared incomes are above the provincial average.

The earthquake picture is calm. Borgosesia is in seismic zone 4, the lowest band, like almost all of the province of Vercelli, and the expected ground acceleration is about 0.043 g. In an Alpine valley, floods on the Sesia and its side streams and landslides on the slopes matter more, and the report checks them at the address.

The Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) publishes the cadastral maps, and the report goes from the address to the plot.

Key points

  • Gateway to the Valsesia, built around its wool mills.
  • Population down 7.5% since 2011; average age 50.4.
  • Seismic zone 4, the lowest band.
  • Sesia floods and landslides checked by address.

Overview

Borgosesia is a municipality in the province of Vercelli, in Piemonte. At the end of 2023 it had 12,053 residents, the second most populous in the province.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Borgosesia is in seismic zone 4, the lowest-risk zone, where strong earthquakes are very rare. Most municipalities in the province (81 of 82) are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.043 g, a low value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

In zone 4 the risk is low, but for an older building it is still worth asking about the state of the structure.

Population

Compared with the 2011 census, the resident population has fallen by 7.5%. The estimated average age is 50 years, higher than the province average (48). 31% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 27%). Foreign residents make up 7.7% of the population. On average, a household has 2.0 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Borgosesia declared an average taxable income of 26,880 euros, above the provincial average (24,991 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Borgosesia is in climate zone E, with 2,765 heating degree days: heating may be switched on from 15 October to 15 April, for up to 14 hours a day. The same table puts the town hall at 354 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Borgosesia has 11 schools and 4 pharmacies. The Overture Maps data also lists 13 grocery shops and supermarkets, 18 healthcare facilities, 13 sports facilities and 3 parks and green areas.

There are 1.5 healthcare facilities per 1,000 residents, more than the province average (0.7).

Public transport

We do not yet have open public transport timetables for this municipality: the report says so explicitly, without inventing distances.

How built-up it is

Buildings, roads, car parks and other sealed surfaces cover 9.8% of the land in Borgosesia, compared with 5.0% in the province and 6.7% in the region. In 2024 built-up land stayed almost the same.

Radon and contaminated sites

Borgosesia is not among the radon priority areas designated by the Regione Piemonte in 2023. Radon varies from building to building and can only be known by measuring it, especially on ground floors and in basements.

Official databases list 4 contaminated sites, or sites still under investigation, in Borgosesia, and one more has been cleaned up or closed. The report tells you whether one is close to the address.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Borgosesia: the report checks the address against the ISPRA maps.

House prices

The Revenue Agency's price ranges per square metre (OMI) apply to zones, not to whole municipalities: the report gives the range for the address's zone.

Land registry

The cadastral maps for Borgosesia are public: from the address the report finds the sheet and parcel number.

Liveability area by area

The Vicinalia liveability index runs from 0 to 100 and looks at the place, not the people who live there: services within walking distance, transport, green space, natural hazards, air, quiet, buildings and connection. Here it is worked out at the centre of each of the 93 inhabited census areas in Borgosesia. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 63 or more.

Residents by band

  • modest 1.7%
  • fair 51.1%
  • good 47.1%

Vicinalia index by census area, licence CC BY-SA 4.0. Data: IdroGEO ISPRA (2026), Istat, INGV, EEA, AGCOM, Overture Maps and OpenStreetMap.

The colour is the value at the centre of the area. For an exact address, search for it above: the free check looks at that exact point. How the index is worked out

Data sources

ISTAT code 002016. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.