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Five one and two bedrooms apartments are up for sale in a stone and wood former municipal building in the pretty ski resort of Valtournenche, in Valle d’Aosta

A quiet, magically white valley Lies at the Italian foot of the Matterhorn, dwarfed by the mountain’s steep sides and craggy peak. Stretching gently along a valley’s slope, a mountain village of grey stone roofs and whitewashed façades clusters around an old church and its belfry. It is Valtournenche, one of Val d’Aosta most established winter resorts and a haven for second homers with the skiing bug.

It is here, right in the centre of the village, that GK Italian Property is selling a small selection of one and two-bedroom apartments in a former municipal building. The old stone and wood hall, which is being renovated, will be converted into 14 units, of which only five remain available.

The apartments’ interiors match the lovely façade, blending “traditional Alpine style features such as wooden doors, shutters and staircases with modern comforts,” according selling agent Gemma Knowles. She adds that they are of “high quality” and have “stylish bathrooms.”

The properties make perfect pied a terres for keen skiing families, as the shuttle bus to the lifts stops just outside the building. “All apartments also come with parking space or garage if want to drive to cablecar,” adds Knowles.

Valtournenche’s slopes are perfect for beginners and intermediates. More ambitious skiers, however, also have access to the pistes in nearby Cervinia—without having to pay the steeper property prices of the higher altitude resort. “Prices in Cervinia are between Euro 5,000 and Euro 6,000 per square metre,” says Knowles. “Apartments in Valtournenche cost approx Euro 4,000 per square metre.”

She is quoting asking prices from €198,000 (plus about 15% in taxes and fees) for the apartments in Valtournenche’s former municipal building—a similar-sized apartment in Cervinia would cost about €300,000.

Switzerland’s Zermatt is also linked to Valtournenche. With a total of 380Km of pistes covering the three resorts and lifts as high as 3,490m, the area has a really long season—from the beginning of November until early may. There is also summer skiing on the glacier—as well as an 18-hole golf course in Cervinia and plenty of mountaneering and hiking in the nearby valleys. But Valtournenche is not only a cheaper base to explore all this—it is also more traditional, as it is the area’s original mountain village, before Cervinia was purpose built for skiing.

“In Valtournenche you can enjoy the same ski area as Cervinia and it’s prettier too!” says Knowles.

For more information, call: +44 (0) 20 7993 2967, or visit .