Efisio Noussan

The Aosta Valley’s regional natural science museum bears his name. Efisio Noussan was a businessman with a passion for nature, history and the mountains. Above all, he brought the Société de la Flore valdôtaine back to life and led it for thirty years.

A collector from Châtillon

Born in Châtillon in 1921, Efisio Noussan collected books, photographs and old prints on the history of the valley and its people. A member of the British Alpine Club, he had contacts and a knowledge of the mountains that reached well beyond the Aosta Valley.

At the head of the Société de la Flore

In 1971 he was elected president of the Société de la Flore valdôtaine, reborn after thirty dormant years. He led it for three decades, and the society became active again on several fronts:

• publications: the society resumed its Bulletin, which later became the Revue valdôtaine d’histoire naturelle;
• the Chanousia garden: created by Abbé Pierre Chanoux at the Little St Bernard Pass and abandoned since the Second World War, the botanical garden was restored;
• a museum: the society’s collections were brought together in a museum, first in Aosta, then in Saint-Pierre Castle.

The regional natural science museum in 1985

In 1985, thanks to many donations, the museum grew and became the regional natural science museum. After Noussan’s death it was named after him.

What he leaves behind: Aosta Valley’s nature and history

Thanks to him, the nature and history of the Aosta Valley are better known and better protected. The museum bearing his name, the Chanousia garden and the society’s publications keep the memory of all he started or revived.

Main photo : Hagai Agmon-Snir حچاي اچمون-سنير חגי אגמון-שניר, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.