Chanousia Alpine Botanical Garden

Séez, France, Italy

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The Chanousia Alpine Botanical Garden is a small, high‑mountain garden founded in 1897 by the Valdostan abbot and botanist Pierre Chanoux to protect and display alpine plants from the Mont Blanc region; it sits near the Little St Bernard Pass at about 2,170 meters and is notable for being administered from the Italian side despite its location just inside France.

The garden covers roughly 10,000 m² on a sloping, schistose substrate with views of Mont Blanc and surrounding peaks, and it focuses on conservation, study, and public education about alpine flora, especially local and endangered species. Damaged during World War II, the collection was rebuilt in the 1970s by the international Chanousia Association and today operates seasonally (typically early July through mid/late September), staffed by curators and seasonal gardeners who maintain beds arranged to reflect different alpine habitats.

Visitors encounter a mix of native wildflowers, rock garden plantings, and labeled specimens used for research and interpretation; the site is accessible from nearby La Thuile and Séez and is valued both as Italy’s oldest alpine botanical garden and as a cross‑border natural heritage site.