Written by an anthropologist, the volume starts from the analysis of a specific study case (Alagna Valsesia) to be then inserted in a mainstream of studies that try to renovate the traditional models of interpreting the alpine social, economic and demographic reality in favour of new interpretations, which consider the traditional alpine societies oriented towards economically and demographically rational choices rather than conditioned by the pressure of need and misery. The history of migration and demography of many alpine communities can be then observed from a new perspective.