Cultural exchanges

The Saussurea Foundation carries out popularisation work, with excellent results in terms of public and scientific recognition; it maintains cultural exchanges with over 300 university bodies and alpine gardens, both Italian and foreign; it organises didactic workshops and popularisation events on the themes of nature and mountain botany.

The Foundation publishes an annual Index Seminum, a list of seeds collected in the Garden and the surrounding valleys. It contains around 900 species, which it exchanges with the above-mentioned structures.

THE JARDINALP PROJECT

The Jardinalp project is part of the territorial collaboration program Europea Interreg V A Italia Francia (ALCOTRA) 2014-2020.

The object of this collaboration between eight Italian and French alpine botanical gardens is to stimulate scientific and cultural tourism associated with education on plant biodiversity.

The following are part of the alpine gardens network:

The National Alpine Botanical Conservatory (Hautes-Alpes, project leader): the specialist in flora of the French Alps, located in the area of Charance, in Gap.
The Joseph Fourier alpine station (Hautes-Alpes): an important center of research and education on biodiversity, through the alpine gardens of Lautaret and the Galleria delle Alpi.
The Management Body of the protected areas of the Maritime Alps (Piedmont): two high altitude botanical stations open to excursionists in the Marguareis Park and the Valderia gardens.
The Management Body of the protected areas of the Autonomous Region of Valle d’Aosta: an alpine garden in the historical site of Castel Savoia.
The Gran Paradiso National Park (Valle d’Aosta and Piedmont): a protected area, the Paradisia alpine gardens.
The Saussurea Foundation (Valle d’Aosta): the Mont Bianc gardens, Saussurea, in Courmayeur.
The Chanousia gardens (Valle d’Aosta): the historical gardens of the Chanoux Abbey, Chanousia, on the hill of the Colle del Piccolo San Bernardo.

Developing scientific tourism based on a network of eight prestigious Alpine gardens

To achieve this goal, the partners planned these actions:

Create a new Alpine garden in Gap, in a popular area.
Modernise the existing gardens to adapt them to the public in the best possible way (through renovation work, access for the disabled, furniture, signage, audio guides, QR codes, involvement of local tourism professionals, communication tools, films, exhibitions).
Create synergies between partners to improve the value of the gardens and realise economies of scale (common multilingual communication, common tools, exchange of practices).
Encourage the public to discover the Alpine natural heritage (gardens and botanical routes).

A project with great resources

The project covers and includes:

Gardens located at the main sites in the Alps and already highly frequented (more than 170,000 visitors per year at the 8 sites).
High-level partners with extensive experience in public outreach and science.
The collection of resources for teaching tools and communication.
An attractive summer tourist offer representative of the identity of the Alps.