The opening is scheduled in 2026, but the chef's name has already gained the attention of the more conservatives.
Who is Art Smith: from starry cuisine to LGBT activist
Art Smith is a figure known not only for his talent in the kitchen, but also for his social engagement. With numerous food awards behind him, he worked as a personal chef for Florida governors Bob Graham and Jeb Bush and, until 2007, for Oprah Winfrey.
Throughout his career he has cooked for personalities such as former President Barack Obama, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and numerous film stars, and has collaborated with Lady Gaga, becoming principal chef of the Joanne Trattoria in New York.
He has written numerous successful books and collaborates regularly with O, The Oprah Magazine and Oprah.com. However, it is his private life and his LGBT activism that makes it an important voice for the queer community and beyond.
Smith, along with her husband Jesus Salgueiro, is the founder of the NGO Common Threads, an international children’s organization, born in 2001 following a visit by the couple to New York shortly after 9/11, which promotes a family environment in which children learn to value each other and develop universal understanding and mutual acceptance, focused on community health through cooking and nutrition courses.
He is also part of the board of directors of Kids Café, a children's nutrition program in Minneapolis. He runs restaurants like TABLE fifty-two in Chicago and Art and Soul in Washington, and has participated in Top Chef Masters, raising money for his own charity.
The husband and the five adopted children
Smith lives in Jasper, Florida, with her husband Jesus Salgueiro, a painter. The two married at the Lincoln Memorial in 2011, after ten years of relationship and together they adopted and raised five children, blessed at the time by Pope Francis, with an engraved plaque. Their experience has been told several times in the United States, becoming an example of inclusion and rainbow family.
The chef and husband devote their time to many causes, from cooking classes for children to humanitarian assistance.
In 2006, as The Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame reports, for their charity commitment, Salgueiro and Smith became the first openly gay couple to receive the “Chicagoans of the Year” recognition from Chicago Magazine. “Without Jesus,” Smith says, “my life would be incomplete, and without it Common Threads it wouldn’t exist.”
Throughout his career, Smith has participated and contributed to numerous fundraisers for charities, both within and outside the LGBT communities, including the celebrated cooking contest sponsored by Gender PAC in favor of the Center on Halsted. He also played a key role in organizing the Center’s kitchen donation.
Salgueiro creates striking depictions of manholes from cities around the world, conceiving his art as “an expression of .” The couple travel together teaching cooking and art to children around the world, sharing their talent in places as diverse as South Africa, Croatia and Los Angeles.
The restaurant of Castel Gandolfo
The new Vatican restaurant, writes Il Messaggero, now aims to combine haute cuisine and environmental sustainability, following the principles of the encyclical Laudato Sì. Located in the heart of the gardens of Castel Gandolfo, it will be a place where the gastronomic quality is combined with attention to the environment and the sustainable supply chain.
The restaurant will be located inside Borgo Laudato si’, “a project born from the will of Pope Francis”, as read in an official statement of the Holy See last August.
Opened last September 5 by Leo XIV, it is a property of 55 hectares and is “the result of a path that intertwines spirituality, education and sustainability with the creation”.
Smith, chosen at the time of Pope Francis – although apparently also received by Pope Leo XIV – will supervise the restaurant together with Phil Stefani of the Stefani Restaurant Group in Chicago.
The choice to entrust this task to chef Art Smith could arouse some resistance among the most conservative prelates and those who observe the official position of the magisterium on LGBT issues.
Despite this, his appointment to the Vatican could mark a small but significant step towards greater cultural openness even in traditionally conservative contexts.