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Rimella: 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 Rimella

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: Frazione San Gottardo 1, Rimella.

Rimella, the Walser village of the Val Mastallone

Rimella is one of the Walser settlements of the Valsesia, founded by German-speaking settlers who came down from the Valais in the Middle Ages. It lies high in the Val Mastallone, a side valley that opens at Varallo, and is made up of many small hamlets scattered across the slopes, linked by narrow roads and footpaths. The church and main cluster stand above a thousand metres, and the climate is zone F.

Getting to Rimella takes patience: the road up the Val Mastallone is long, narrow and winding, and in winter snow makes travel harder. People buying here want a genuine mountain house, often stone and timber, to use in summer or restore at leisure. In the more isolated hamlets, check car access, water supply, drainage and the state of the stone-slab roofs, which are expensive to maintain.

Istat, the national statistics office, counted 133 residents in 2023, 4 fewer than in 2011. The average age is 53.2, against 48.4 in the province of Vercelli, and over-65s make up 30.8%. Declared incomes are below the provincial average.

Seismic hazard is low: Rimella is in zone 4 of the national classification, like 81 of the 82 municipalities in the province, with an expected ground acceleration of about 0.060 g. In a deep Alpine valley, slopes and streams matter more, and the report checks them on the official maps for the address.

The Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) publishes cadastral maps. In a municipality of scattered hamlets they help pin down the boundaries and parcels of what you are buying.

Key points

  • Walser settlement high in the Val Mastallone, in the Valsesia.
  • Scattered hamlets: check access, water and stone-slab roofs.
  • 133 residents in 2023, over-65s at 30.8%.
  • Seismic zone 4, like 81 municipalities in the province.

Overview

Rimella is a municipality in the province of Vercelli, in Piemonte. At the end of 2023 it had 133 residents, among the smallest in the province (75 of 82).

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Rimella 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 0.060 g, a moderate 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 2.9%. The estimated average age is 53 years, higher than the province average (48). 31% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 27%). Foreign residents make up 2.3% of the population. On average, a household has 1.5 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Rimella declared an average taxable income of 17,590 euros, below the provincial average (24,991 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Rimella is in climate zone F, with 3,833 heating degree days, with no limits on when heating may be used. The same table puts the town hall at 1,176 metres above sea level.

Services

In the Overture Maps data, Rimella has 1 green area.

The data shows no schools within the municipality, against a provincial average of 1.1 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 0.9% of the land in Rimella, 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

Rimella 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 Rimella.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Rimella: 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 Rimella 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 15 inhabited census areas in Rimella. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 56 or more.

Residents by band

  • fair 100.0%

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 002113. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.