Rocky spire reflected in an alpine lake in Valle Maira

Cuneo Alps · Piedmont

Photos of Valle Maira

Peaks and rocky spires, alpine lakes, waterfalls and high meadows: a look at one of the most unspoilt valleys in the western Alps.

The valley in pictures

Valle Maira runs for about 45 kilometres, from the valley-floor woods at around 600 metres up to peaks above 3,000. In between is everything you see in these photos: high flowering meadows, alpine lakes set in their basins, waterfalls among the rocks and the spires that draw the skyline of the upper valley.

These are landscapes you almost always reach on foot: the valley has no large ski lifts, and the viewpoints are earned along the trails. To see how the valley looks right now, there is the live webcam.

High-altitude flowering meadows with the peaks of the Cuneo Alps behind

Rocky spire reflected in the clear water of an alpine lake

Waterfall dropping into a turquoise pool among the rocks

Rocky summit under the first snow, above the conifer woods

High valley with a small lake and rocky spires

Alpine lake in a grassy basin at the foot of the rock walls

High-altitude tarn still frozen among early-summer snowfields

Ridges and rocky spires above the valley's grassy slopes

Broad pasture plateau dominated by a pyramid-shaped spire

Come and live Valle Maira

From the hamlets of Elva to the holiday homes of San Damiano Macra: choose where to stay and what to do in the valley.

Where to stay Explore the valley