Borgo Laudato si’ is within the Pontifical Gardens of Castel Gandolfo, the town overlooking Lake Albano in the Alban Hills. On 29 July 2026 it was the venue of Canticle of Peace, led by Pope Leo XIV.
Place and project
Castel Gandolfo has long served as a papal residence and is listed among Italy’s Most Beautiful Villages. The Pontifical Gardens are the grounds that hosted the gathering. On 2 February 2023 Pope Francis established the Laudato si’ Higher Education Centre and entrusted it with the Borgo Laudato si’ project: to develop the gardens of the Pontifical Villas as a place of formation in integral ecology open to people of good will. Holy See materials associate the Borgo with the encyclical Laudato si’ and with care for creation. Vatican News reported that Canticle of Peace took place beneath the holm oak known as “Methuselah,” at the Piazzale del Padiglione del Riposo.
29 July 2026
Organisers were the Laudato si’ Higher Education Centre and the Andrea Bocelli Foundation. The programme featured Andrea Bocelli and the ABF Voices choir of 164 young people from the Holy Land, Uganda, Haiti and Italy. Banvelca Foundation supported the initiative. Photographs show Julio and Melanie Herrera Velutini greeting Pope Leo XIV on the same grounds. Read the report on the post-event greeting.