Giardino Botanico Montano di Pratorondanino

Campo Ligure, Metropolitan City of Genoa, Italy, Italy

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The Giardino Botanico Montano di Pratorondanino is a nature preserve and botanical garden located at 750 meters altitude on the Pratorondanino plateau in Campo Ligure, Province of Genoa, Liguria, Italy, in the heart of the Genoese Apennines.

Founded in 1983 by the Gruppo Ligure Amatori Orchidee (Ligurian Group of Orchid Enthusiasts) together with Professor Valeria Isolina Mastrorilli on a 6,000 square meter (about 1.5 acres) area, the garden became a protected area in 1998 when the Liguria Region officially designated it as a Provincial Protected Area and entrusted its management to the Province of Genoa, now the Metropolitan City of Genoa.

The garden conserves over 300 to 400 botanical species and trees representing primarily native mountain flora from Alpine and Apennine ranges, including many rare or endangered plants from around the world, displayed in their natural environments such as rock gardens, ponds, meadows, and woods.

The scenic loop route features three different rocky habitats (limestone, siliceous, and winding), and the garden is particularly known for its collection of mountain orchids, including the rare Cypripedium calceolus alpino (scarpetta della Madonna or Lady's Slipper), which thrives at 750 meters where winter temperatures can reach minus twenty degrees.