Description of the attraction
Alpine Botanical Garden "Paradisia", founded in 1955, is located in the National Park "Gran Paradiso" in the Italian region of Val d'Aosta. It got its name from the paradise lily with delicate white flowers that grows in abundance in alpine meadows and mountain pastures. The place for the garden - Valnonti - was not chosen by chance: located at an altitude of 1700 meters above sea level, it has a relatively moderate climate, a special soil structure and has the required number of sunny days. A nice bonus is the majestic Gran Paradiso mountain in the background.
In 1964, next to the botanical garden, a mountain biological station was founded to conduct scientific research of local flora and fauna, and in 1971 it became part of the scientific department of Paradisia. At the same time, work began on the design of the garden and the creation of a herbarium and a seed bank.
Today, Paradisia has carefully recreated a variety of mountain ecosystems with their characteristic flora - for example, humid zones, moraines and limestone detritus. More than a thousand species of plants, brought from different parts of the world, grow here. First of all, of course, these are typically Alpine and Apennine plants, but there are also species from other parts of Europe and mountain ecosystems of Asia and America. In addition, on ten huge boulders scattered around the garden, you can see a beautiful and rather rare collection of lichens. As part of school trips, you can also visit the herbarium, laboratory and a small thematic library. And for the development of the ecological and educational aspect of the park's activities in "Paradisia", several thematic routes were developed, passing through the recreated natural ecosystems (steppes, peat bogs, moraines, alder forests, etc.). Each of the routes is equipped with information stands. One of the thematic routes - "black" - passes through the central part of the botanical garden with its garden of stones, and the second - "yellow" - introduces the outskirts of the "Paradisia". Here you can also see the collection of rocks typical of the Val Cognier valley and visit the wonderful Butterfly Garden.
