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Selva di Val Gardena: what to know before buying a home

A municipality in the province of Bolzano/Bozen, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. Official data on earthquakes, population, services and transport.

Liveability index free for any address

Search for an address in Selva di Val Gardena

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: Strada Mëisules 1, Selva di Val Gardena.

Selva di Val Gardena, the Ladin village below the Sella

Selva, Wolkenstein in German and Sëlva in Ladin, is the highest municipality in Val Gardena, above 1,500 metres, at the foot of the Sella and Sassolungo mountains in the Dolomites. The roads to the Gardena and Sella passes start here, and the village lives largely on winter and summer tourism. Ladin and German are the everyday languages, alongside Italian.

The property market reflects this. Many buildings are hotels, serviced apartments and holiday flats, and in South Tyrol the provincial rules on how homes may be used, as a main residence or for holiday lets, should be checked with a surveyor or notary before signing anything. Climate zone F means long winters and plenty of snow, so heating and insulation make a big difference to running costs. Public transport is dense for a mountain village, with 20 bus lines and 83 stops in the municipality.

Istat, the Italian national statistics office, counts 2,630 residents in 2023, almost unchanged since 2011 (down 1.1%). The average age is 44.0, close to the 43.4 of the province, and foreign residents make up 7.8%. Declared incomes are above the provincial average.

Selva is in seismic zone 4, with an expected acceleration of 0.060 g: earthquake risk is low.

One point matters a great deal for buyers. Property here is recorded in the tavolare system, a land register inherited from Austrian law, and the Revenue Agency does not publish cadastral maps for the area. The report says so and works with the other data available for the address, while ownership and boundaries are checked at the land register office.

Key points

  • Ladin village in upper Val Gardena, below the Sella
  • 20 bus lines and 83 stops in the area
  • Tavolare land register: no Revenue Agency maps
  • Seismic zone 4, expected acceleration 0.060 g

Overview

Selva di Val Gardena is a municipality in the province of Bolzano/Bozen, in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. At the end of 2023 it had 2,630 residents, ranked 60 of 116 municipalities in the province.

Earthquakes

For Italy's Civil Protection Department, Selva di Val Gardena is in seismic zone 4, the lowest-risk zone, where strong earthquakes are very rare. All 116 municipalities in the province 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 1.1%. The estimated average age is 44 years, in line with the province. 20% of residents are over 65 (the regional figure is 22%). Foreign residents make up 7.8% of the population. On average, a household has 2.4 members.

Income and climate

In tax year 2024, taxpayers in Selva di Val Gardena declared an average taxable income of 32,673 euros, above the provincial average (28,222 euros). The Italian average is 24,895 euros.

Selva di Val Gardena is in climate zone F, with 5,072 heating degree days, with no limits on when heating may be used. The same table puts the town hall at 1,563 metres above sea level.

Services

In the official Ministry of Health lists, Selva di Val Gardena has 1 pharmacy. The Overture Maps data also lists 3 grocery shops and supermarkets, 1 healthcare facility, 5 sports facilities and 2 parks and green areas.

The data shows no schools within the municipality, against a provincial average of 0.2 per 1,000 residents.

Public transport

Within the municipality there are 83 public transport stops, served by 20 bus lines. That is about 31.6 stops per 1,000 residents.

How built-up it is

Buildings, roads, car parks and other sealed surfaces cover 2.5% of the land in Selva di Val Gardena, compared with 2.7% in the province and 2.9% in the region. In 2024 built-up land stayed almost the same.

Radon and contaminated sites

Selva di Val Gardena is not among the radon priority areas designated by the Provincia autonoma di Bolzano in 2026. 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 open contaminated sites in Selva di Val Gardena; 5 have been cleaned up or closed.

Landslides and flooding

Landslide and flood hazard changes from one street to the next even within Selva di Val Gardena: 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

For Selva di Val Gardena the Revenue Agency does not publish cadastral maps: the land registry here uses the tavolare (land book) system. The report cannot give a parcel reference, but it still checks risks, services and transport at the address and states this clearly.

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 57 inhabited census areas in Selva di Val Gardena. Half of the residents live in areas scoring 73 or more.

Residents by band

  • fair 11.6%
  • good 76.9%
  • very good 11.5%

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 021089. The text on this page is generated automatically from the data.