The patron saint of Valtournenche is Saint Anthony the Abbot, celebrated on 17 January. The parish church dedicated to him dates from the 15th century and was enlarged in the 19th.
Until the end of the 14th century the entire territory of the present-day municipality belonged to the noble Challant-Cly family, who built the castle of Planet there, at Breuil; after the rebellion of the last lord of Cly, it passed under the direct sovereignty of Savoy. Dominated by the Matterhorn, the town gave birth to many great alpine guides, including Jean-Antoine Carrel, Amé Gorret, Jean-Joseph Maquignaz and Luigi Carrel: the Société Guide del Cervino was founded in the mid-19th century, and in August 2012 the Matterhorn Guides Museum was inaugurated at Breuil-Cervinia. On 10 December 1977 the resort hosted, for the first time in its history, a stage of the Women's Alpine Skiing World Cup, a special slalom on the Cielo Alto piste won by the French skier Perrine Pelen.
