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Vatican Vegetable Garden Goes 100% Organic
Developing
In Short: The Vatican's vegetable garden, often known as 'the pope's garden,' has transitioned to organic farming, reflecting the institution's commitment to sustainable practices.
Sometimes known as 'the pope's garden,' the vegetable plot within the Vatican Gardens has always been a defining feature, providing sustenance for the Apostolic Palace," said Stefano Giampaolo, head of the Gardens and Environment Service of the Vatican. "Now, the garden is more accurately understood as the vegetable garden of the Vatican Gardens, covering roughly half of Vatican City at 57 acres.
The excess produce from the garden is given to a Vatican soup kitchen run by the Missionaries of Charity, while the Benedictine nuns at Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, who pray for the pope, use the fruits and vegetables to make jams and other food preserves.
What's still developing
- According to Gilberto Bianchi, the gardener responsible for the orchard and vegetable patch since 2008, the Vatican has a “desire to respect nature” in how it cares for the plants and trees on its land.
- “Clearly, running a completely organic vegetable garden presents challenges, partly because insects are aggressive, and we use natural predators in the soil to control them,” Bianchi said.
- Part of an organic agriculture also means respecting the seasons, he said.
- According to Vatican Media, the garden also includes garlic, basil, and a Peruvian variety of chili peppers known for its intensity.
- Bianchi, who has worked for more than three decades in the Vatican Gardens, “is the one with the most expertise in this field, and he is now passing that knowledge on to a new gardener,” Giampaolo said.
- Stefano Giampaolo, left, head of the Gardens and Environment Service of Vatican City, and expert gardener Gilberto Bianchi, right, the main caretaker of the orchard and vegetable garden commonly known as “the pope’s garden,” share their expertise with EWTN News in the Vatican Gardens on Sept. 9, 2026. | Credit: Hannah Brockhaus/EWTN News “People expect to see a single garden, but in reality, as the name suggests, they are the Vatican Gardens — a collection of gardens,” Giampaolo said.
- Ultimately, he said, the gardeners hope to one day eliminate all synthetic fertilizers and pesticides from their care of the entire Vatican territory.
- “It’s a process — the transformation of all the Gardens into organic ones,” he said.
Sources
- Ewtnnewslink