The Pope’s garden in the Vatican Gardens becomes 100% organic

Vatican News

The vegetable garden next to the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican Gardens is becoming fully organic.

Following the approach set out in Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment Laudato si’, the goal of cultivation is not maximum production, but respect for the natural growth cycles of each plant and for the soil.

Pope Leo XIV last November emphasized this “care for Creation” when addressing Italian agronomists and forestry professionals.

He urged them to view their work as “a concrete form of charity toward our Mother Earth and toward future generations,” because the earth “is not a possession, but a gift,” and those who cultivate it “with respect and wisdom, participate in God’s creative work.”

Cultivation that respects the land

In the past, manure from the Pontifical Villas in Castel Gandolfo was used at the garden.

Today, only certified pelletized fertilizer is used, selected according to the season and the needs of the plants being supported.

Good agricultural practices also reduce the need for plant-protection products, since the number and activity of pests are kept below the threshold at which they can cause damage.

Every intervention is also recorded in a “field logbook,” as required by regulations for treatments subject to the mandatory certification, while natural substances do not require registration.

Soil fertility is maintained using specific techniques, including crop rotation, with legumes such as green beans that naturally fix nitrogen.

This year, a seaweed-based fertilizer is also being tested on the tomatoes.

The seedlings are brought in from outside and have already been treated according to natural methods. Purchased seedlings are preferred to maintaining an in-house nursery, in order to limit the risk of spreading plant diseases that could compromise the entire crop. However, plans are already being studied for an on-site nursery, together with a greenhouse for bonsai trees.

Advertisement

The nuns work with a gardener and young assistants

The plot is overseen by the Gardens and Environment Service, headed by forestry expert Stefano Giampaolo, within the Directorate of Infrastructure and Services of the Governorate of Vatican City State, led by Director Salvatore Farina.

Day by day, an experienced gardener, Gilberto Bianchi, tends the garden across four terraces covering just under 400 square meters of cultivable land.

For some time now, he has been assisted by a group of young workers, to whom he is gradually passing on his valuable experience, so that this knowledge—made up of small, everyday gestures—will not be lost but preserved, as happened centuries ago when knowledge was passed from one monastery to another.

The religious sisters who assist him indicate from time to time which crops are needed, taking into account the season and what the land can provide at that particular time. Irrigation remains entirely manual to this day.

Only seasonal produce

The cultivation calendar follows the seasons closely: fresh garlic, basil, seedlings, chili peppers—including a Peruvian variety famous for its intensity—citrus fruits and pumpkins, which ripen through November.

This year, the first kiwi plants were also planted at the sisters’ request. Between late August and early September, winter planting begins, with savoy cabbage, broccoli, spinach and lettuce.

May is the garden’s most productive month.

Summer is the most difficult season because of the heat, with tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, green beans, zucchini and cucumbers, including a variety from Puglia, reaching the end of their growing cycle.

The citrus trees in the garden are around 150 years old. Over the years, different varieties have been grafted onto them, some of which can no longer be found on the market. Grown without any chemical treatments, the fruit can even be eaten with the peel. The nuns still use it to make jams, candied peel and biscuits, some of which are offered to guests and some sold.

Over the years, the produce from this small plot has also supplied charitable institutions such as Casa Dono di Maria, a service whose activities are now being revived with renewed energy and commitment.

A garden with 800 years of history

The history of this small garden dates back to the Middle Ages. When Pope Nicholas III Orsini moved the papal residence from the Lateran to the Vatican between 1277 and 1280, he also ordered the creation of an orchard and a true viridarium, enclosed within the new walls. It was a productive space that helped meet the needs of the papal household.

Eight centuries later, that vocation has not disappeared. It continues, almost unchanged, beside the monastery commissioned by John Paul II and built between 1992 and 1994 so that a community of cloistered religious women dedicated to praying for the Pope would always be present at the heart of the Church.

The nuns themselves were originally the ones who worked the land. “Cultivating is a prayer made with the hands,” Benedictine Abbess Maria Sofia Cichetti, then prioress of the monastery, told L’Osservatore Romano on August 26, 2009.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI loved to take walks in this space.