Italy agreed on the date of 2025-07-31 to a Vatican plan to convert a large tract of land north of Rome into a solar farm intended to supply Vatican City’s electricity needs, according to the Associated Press.
The agreement concerns the Santa Maria di Galeria site, a 430-hectare field that has extraterritorial status in Italy and has for decades hosted Vatican Radio facilities. The Holy See hopes the project will help make Vatican City the world’s first carbon-neutral state. The plan still requires approval by the Italian parliament because the arrangement carries financial implications for the territory.
Vatican foreign minister Archbishop Paul Gallagher signed the accord with Francesco Di Nitto, Italy’s ambassador to the Holy See. The terms described in the Vatican statement cited by AP say development of the site should maintain agricultural use of the land while limiting environmental effects in the surrounding area. Further project details were not released.
The financial framework includes an exemption for the Vatican from Italian taxes on imported solar panels. The Vatican will not receive the incentives available to Italian residents who install solar systems. Italy, meanwhile, may count the field toward its European Union clean-energy targets. Officials cited by AP said any electricity produced beyond Vatican needs would go to the local community; those officials spoke anonymously because the agreement itself had not been made public.
Vatican officials have estimated the cost of the solar farm at under 100 million euros, equivalent to about $114 million. Once parliament approves the plan, contracts for the work could be opened to bids.
The location gives the project a broader history than a conventional energy development. Santa Maria di Galeria, about 35 kilometers north of Rome, is dominated by roughly two dozen short- and medium-wave antennas that have been used since the 1950s to transmit Catholic Church news in many languages. As nearby areas developed, residents complained about health problems, including childhood leukemia cases, which they attributed to electromagnetic emissions from the towers. The Vatican denied that a causal connection existed but later reduced transmissions.
In the 1990s, residents brought legal action against Vatican Radio officials, alleging emissions exceeded Italian legal limits. The transmitter was cleared by the court. In 2012, the Vatican said it was cutting transmission hours from the site by half, attributing the reduction to cost-saving technology changes linked to internet broadcasting rather than to health concerns.
The solar proposal traces back to Pope Francis, who in 2024 asked the Vatican to study using the area for clean energy as part of his emphasis on moving away from fossil fuels. Pope Leo XIV visited Santa Maria di Galeria in June 2025 and affirmed his intention to carry forward that plan. AP reported that Leo has continued the environmental focus associated with Francis, including through prayers and readings inspired by Francis’ ecological legacy.
If completed, the project would turn a historically sensitive broadcast site into a major renewable-energy asset for the Holy See, while leaving final approval and implementation to Italy’s parliamentary process and subsequent contracting.
