IN A FEW YEARS THE POPE WILL TOAST WITH HIS OWN “KM O” WINE. JUST A LITTLE PATIENCE TO WAIT FOR THE ROWS OF TREBBIANO AND CESANESE FROM AFFILE (PHOTO) THAT COLDIRETTI DONATED TO THE FARM OF HIS HOLINESS IN CASTEL GANDOLFO

In a few years the Pope will celebrate with his own "km 0" wine. Just a little patience to wait for the rows of Trebbiano and Cesanese grapes from Affile (photo), that the Italian Farmers Association, Coldiretti donated (along with chestnut and oak barrels for aging) to the farm of the Holy Father at Castel Gandolfo on “Integrity of Creation Day”, to bear fruit and be transformed into wine.

The statue of Christ the Good Shepherd “protects” the vines. “The vineyard donated to Pope Benedict XVI”, says Coldiretti, “meant to recall the first words the newly elected Pontiff, Joseph Ratzinger spoke to the faithful on April 19, 2005, when he called himself “a humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord” referring to an intellectual humility that so often has led him to say that science cannot be considered self-sufficient, but should have the humility and the courage to open to the mystery of God. In the meantime, while Benedict XVI thanked the organization "for your commitment, for the integrity of creation and your gifts”.
The Pope was presented with the first papal honey organically produced, “millefiori” including the aromas and flavors of chestnut flowers and other flowers of fruit trees on the farm that in 1929 Pope Pius XI extended for agricultural activities. And today, Coldiretti adds, “it is also equipped with a modern pasteurizer" for milk from the 25 cows, a chicken coop with 300 laying hens and 60 chickens and orchards, an ancient olive grove and greenhouses in which they cultivate the plants and flowers that are used to beautify the Vatican palaces”.