Chicago restaurateurs Phil Stefani and Art Smith to open new restaurant for the Vatican

Two Chicago restaurateurs are opening a groundbreaking restaurant for the Catholic Church at the papal summer retreat near Rome.

For centuries, Castel Gandolfo, in the hills just outside of Rome, has been the summer home of the popes.

A new ministry dedicated to sustainability, the Borgo Laudato Si ecology project, has taken root at Castel Gandolfo and soon it will include a unique taste of Chicago.

About a half hour south of Rome, on a hilltop dramatically situated beside a volcanic lake sits the town of Castel Gandolfo. Since the 1600s, the manicured gardens and dramatic views of the papal estate have been a vacation retreat for popes. 

Now, beside a circular state-of-the-art greenhouse that looks like a flying saucer, is the new workplace of legendary Chicago restaurateur Phil Stefani.   

"This was only put together in the last couple of years. This is all brand new," Stefani said.

Back home in Chicago, Stefani's many Italian-flared restaurants are legendary.

"Big deal. We opened restaurants in Chicago all the time. You know, who cares? But this is totally different," he said.

Stefani and his business partner, Chicago celebrity chef Art Smith, were selected to create a new dining experience at Castel Gandolfo as the villa's 135 acres are repurposed into a zero-waste ministry dedicated to environmentalism and sustainably called Borgo Laudato Si'.

"How I actually ended up signing that piece of paper, only the man upstairs knows, okay?. Because I'm still trying to figure that out," Stefani said.

Laudato Si' is Italian for "praised be." Pope Francis, who rarely used the spaces at Castel Gandolfo, initiated the Borgo Laudato Si' project.  

"We need to understand the environment, and we don't. You know, we take it for granted," Stefani said.

With the Laudato Si' project, the Borgo's working farm, rolling vineyards, and 1,500 olive trees come together in a religious mission linking environmental protection and social justice for the poor.

"Francis was right when he said ecological problem is, it's a social problem," Stefani said.

Father Stefano Cascio, the project's vice director, provided a rare tour of the Borgo's more spiritual spaces, including a reflecting pond where the current holy father, Pope Leo XIV, prays on his weekly visits.

"Loving people, loving nature, it opens your heart to the beauty of the creation and to the beauty of God," Cascio said.

As a Catholic, the project is special to Stefani.

"It's huge," he said. "I've had the opportunity of meeting Pope Leo now three times now. So, for me, it meant everything, because it's my religion," he said.

In honor of Pope Leo's years as a missionary and bishop in South America, the menu of Stefani's restaurant at Castel Gandolfo will feature a few Peruvian dishes.  Look for Italian pasta specialties and Chicago delicacies like steaks and a classic Chicago-style hot dog, hold the ketchup.

"We are representing Chicago. That's what we're doing. We're going to represent Chicago," Stefani said.

To nurture mankind, Laudato Si' also aims to train 1,000 migrants and people in need each year in sustainable farming and the culinary arts.

"We're going to bring migrants in here and teach them our business. We're going to teach them. We're going to teach them how to cook, we'll teach them and how to serve and then once we teach them properly they will have opportunities," Stefani said.

Pope Francis once wrote that it is mankind's spiritual duty to care for the planet, and now two Chicagoans are to feed not only that mission, but the pilgrims who travel to the papal retreat from throughout the globe.