Skip to content
Vicinalia
Italiano Sign up

Novalesa: what to know before buying a home

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

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Novalesa

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: Via Maestra 1, Novalesa.

Novalesa, the abbey and the valley towards Mont Cenis

Novalesa lies in the Val Cenischia, the side valley that climbs from the Susa valley towards the Mont Cenis pass and France. It is known for its Benedictine abbey, founded in the eighth century, and for the Rocciamelone, the mountain that towers over the valley. The village stands at around 830 metres, a short distance from Susa.

For house hunters it is a mountain place within reach of a city: Susa has the main services and the railway, and from there Turin can be reached by train or motorway. The area is in climate zone F, so winters are long and cold: in the stone houses of the centre, insulation, windows and heating matter, as does the state of the stone-slab or tiled roofs.

In 2023 there were 518 residents, down 7.5% on the 560 of 2011. The average age is 49.4 against 47.4 in the province of Turin, over-65s make up 29.7% (26.4% in the province) and foreign residents 2.1%. Declared incomes are below the provincial average.

The Susa valley has a higher seismic hazard than the Turin plain. Novalesa is in zone 3 on the Civil Protection department's national scale, like most of the province (271 municipalities out of 312), and the expected ground acceleration in the built-up area is about 0.134 g: for an old house a structural check is worthwhile.

The report finds the land parcel on the Revenue Agency's maps and reads the official landslide and flood maps for the address: in a narrow, steep valley like the Val Cenischia, the exact position matters a great deal.

Key points

  • Val Cenischia below Mont Cenis, with its Benedictine abbey.
  • Susa close by for services and trains to Turin.
  • Seismic zone 3, expected acceleration about 0.134 g.
  • Population down 7.5% since 2011.

Overview

Novalesa is a municipality in the province of Torino, in Piemonte. At the end of 2023 it had 518 residents, ranked 252 of 312 municipalities in the province.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Novalesa is in seismic zone 3, a zone where strong earthquakes are possible but rare. The region uses a finer breakdown: here the classification is 3S. Most municipalities in the province (271 of 312) are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.134 g, a moderate value: the level with a 10% probability of being exceeded in 50 years, on rock.

Even in zone 3, seismic standards apply to new buildings: for an older building, ask about the design year and any structural work.

Population

Compared with the 2011 census, the resident population has fallen by 7.5%. The estimated average age is 49 years, higher than the province average (47). 30% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 27%). Foreign residents make up 2.1% of the population. On average, a household has 2.1 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Novalesa declared an average taxable income of 23,605 euros, below the provincial average (27,231 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Novalesa is in climate zone F, with 3,596 heating degree days, with no limits on when heating may be used. The same table puts the town hall at 828 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Novalesa has 1 school.

The data shows no pharmacies within the municipality, against a provincial average of 0.3 per 1,000 residents.

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 1.4% of the land in Novalesa, compared with 8.6% in the province and 6.7% in the region. In 2024 built-up land stayed almost the same.

Radon and contaminated sites

Novalesa 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 no contaminated sites in Novalesa.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Novalesa: 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 Novalesa 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 10 inhabited census areas in Novalesa. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 67 or more.

Residents by band

  • fair 26.6%
  • good 73.4%

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 001169. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.