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Sampeyre: what to know before buying a home

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

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Sampeyre

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 Roma 1, Sampeyre.

Sampeyre, home of the Baìo festival in the Varaita valley

Every five years Sampeyre stages the Baìo, a large costume festival that, according to tradition, recalls the driving out of the Saracens from the valleys. The village sits at almost 1,000 metres in the middle of the Val Varaita, one of the Occitan-speaking valleys in the province of Cuneo, and the road over the Colle di Sampeyre starts here, crossing the mountain to the Val Maira in summer.

For a mountain municipality Sampeyre has the basic services of a valley centre: shops, restaurants, a pharmacy and schools for younger children. For the hospital, secondary schools and offices you go down towards Saluzzo and the plain. Alongside the residents there are many second homes belonging to families from the plain, and on the market you will find both flats in small blocks and old stone and timber houses in the hamlets. The climate zone is F: long winters, snow and heating on for many months.

There were 1,004 residents in 2023, down 6.1% since 2011. The average age is 49.5, against 46.3 in the province, and over-65s make up 31.1% (in the province, 25.1%). Declared incomes are below the provincial average.

Sampeyre is in seismic zone 3, like 141 of the 247 municipalities in the province of Cuneo, with an expected ground acceleration of 0.136 g. In houses roofed with traditional stone slabs, the weight of the roof and the condition of the beams are the first things to have an engineer look at.

The cadastral maps published by the Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) let the report go from the address to the plot. Conditions vary a lot between the valley floor along the Varaita and the hamlets on the slopes, so the official landslide and flood maps should be read house by house.

Key points

  • Main village of the middle Val Varaita, at almost 1,000 metres.
  • Second homes alongside residents, long snowy winters.
  • 1,004 residents in 2023, over-65s at 31.1%.
  • Seismic zone 3, expected acceleration 0.136 g.

Overview

Sampeyre is a municipality in the province of Cuneo, in Piemonte. At the end of 2023 it had 1,004 residents, ranked 107 of 247 municipalities in the province.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Sampeyre 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 (141 of 247) are in the same zone.

In the built-up area, the expected ground shaking (peak ground acceleration, PGA) is about 0.136 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 6.1%. The estimated average age is 49 years, higher than the province average (46). 31% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 27%). Foreign residents make up 3.7% of the population. On average, a household has 1.9 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Sampeyre declared an average taxable income of 18,842 euros, below the provincial average (24,913 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Sampeyre is in climate zone F, with 3,525 heating degree days, with no limits on when heating may be used. The same table puts the town hall at 976 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health lists, Sampeyre has 3 schools and 1 pharmacy. The Overture Maps data also lists 3 grocery shops and supermarkets.

The data shows no healthcare facilities within the municipality, against a provincial average of 0.6 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 1.5% of the land in Sampeyre, compared with 5.3% in the province and 6.7% in the region. In 2024 built-up land stayed almost the same.

Radon and contaminated sites

Sampeyre is not among the radon priority areas designated by the Regione Piemonte in 2023. According to the ISPRA map, the estimated radon emission in the municipality is low. 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 Sampeyre.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Sampeyre: 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 Sampeyre 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 55 inhabited census areas in Sampeyre. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 75 or more.

Residents by band

  • fair 32.0%
  • good 32.3%
  • very good 35.7%

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 004205. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.