Rome (Italy). On 12 November 2025, the inaugural event of the mural created by the artist Giovanna Alfeo and dedicated to Pope Francis and Father Gaetano Greco, the chaplain who ten years ago began a journey of hope and rebirth through artisanal work, took place in Rome, at the Pastificio Futuro, on the outskirts of the Juvenile Criminal Institute of Casal del Marmo.
The inauguration coincided with the celebration of the two-year activity of Pastificio Futuro,
born in 2023 as an experience of inclusion and social reintegration, and moderated by journalist Gianmarco Trevisi (Rai). In attendance were representatives of civil, religious institutions, and the social world, together with the promoters of the initiative: Cardinal Baldassarre Reina, Vicar of Rome; Cristiana Rotunno, deputy head of the Department for Juvenile Justice; Marco Della Porta, President of the Municipio XIV; Giustino Trincia, director of Caritas Rome; Antonio Pappalardo, interdistrict director of the Center for Juvenile Justice; Father Nicolò Ceccolini, Chaplain of the Institute; Alberto Mochi Onori, President of the Pasta Factory and Gustolibero; Father Gaetano’s sisters; and the artist, who called the mural “a wall along a dream.”
The dream comes from the words spoken by Pope Francis during his visit to the juvenile prison in 2013, when he washed the feet of the young detained on Holy Thursday: “Don’t let hope be stolen from you.” From that message, a rebirth project sprouted: Pastificio Futuro, created by Gustolibero Società Cooperativa Sociale Onlus with the support of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Caritas Italiana, and in synergy with the Institute’s Management, the Lazio–Abruzzo– Molise Juvenile Justice Center, and the Department of Juvenile and Community Justice.
The 80-meter-long and 2.5-meter-high mural-located as a “window of hope” right on the prison’s fence, facing the laboratory courtyard-was created by Pastificio workers and two girls from the Juvenile Criminal Institute, employed in Article 21, as a concrete sign of inclusion and participation.
Cardinal Baldassarre Reina, in his greeting, thanking the authorities and those who care for these young people, and ensuring support in the Diocese, he said: “We need to build hope. Pope Francis, in calling for the Jubilee of Hope, called on all communities to make concrete signs: to offer job opportunities, production, and integration for young people leaving prison.”
The other guests also highlighted the importance of projects like these to support young people on their journey of redemption: “no man is ever identifiable with his guilt, and less so than ever is a boy. (…) seeing projects like this, and how young people respond, there is something more. We want to make them responsible for the crime and the victims, because without accountability there is no path,” said Dr. Cristiana Rotunno. While Dr. Marco Dalla Porta highlighted the choral work, “As institutions we want to be part of these community processes, in a great alliance for the common good, together with the civil and social realities of the territory. I see so much community today; the area embraces a project that is turning two years old and which is part of a horizon of beauty.”
Along the same lines, Giustino Trincia, Director of Caritas Rome said, “We want to encourage the presence of parish communities, make this a place where prophecy is lived, and propose paths.” Recalling the visit to the mural of about 500 young people during the Youth Jubilee, struck by the warmth and heart they met here, he acknowledged, “a seed has been thrown.” And he concluded, “This reality speaks to the entire city – believers and non-believers alike – and is part of a path of universal fraternity that commits us to looking to a new possibility for all.”
The artist, Giovanna Alfeo, recounted the emotions she experienced during the construction process of the work, from which she felt strongly provoked and involved. “When I arrived, this massive wall disturbed me. They asked me to ‘take it down’ with color and design. I didn’t think it was right. Limits sometimes save us; beyond the limit lies the abyss. I thought of a very long window onto another landscape, geometric, with symbolic figurative elements: the story of the wheat, the grain that dies and sprouts, the ear that nature offers to the human hand.
The young people wanted seagulls. I created a great flight of different birds — birds of prey, sparrows, magpies, crows, gulls, swallows — that draw on that nourishment and find direction towards an embrace, the main subject of the mural. Two characters have ignited the spark of a future life for these kids. Swallows fly over the pasta factory, a symbol of spring and renewal; the future is for them.”
Father Nicolò Ceccolini, who inherited the legacy of Father Gaetano, thus took up the evangelical metaphor of the seed. “If the grain of wheat dies, it produces a fruit. Looking at the embrace between Pope Francis and Father Gaetano, we understand that the secret to being reborn is to give oneself; only those who spend themselves for others give a future.
We are here, two years after the inauguration of the Pastificio, to honor two men who have made their lives a seed of new life. Casal del Marmo was a place of the heart for both. The Pope visited it twice; Father Gaetano spent 36 years there with fidelity and dedication, also creating a welcoming home. From him I learned never to give up. No one is defined by their mistakes; everyone is worthy of a look and a gesture of love. Our tribute becomes a concrete and renewed commitment to opening new paths of growth and future for young people.”
In conclusion, Alberto Mochi Onori, thanking those who make “this adventure possible every day,” he recalled the final part of the mural, saying, “Our story, you see, is born from an embrace. A hug also serves to welcome those who suffer. Who made a mistake. Who are lost and need to find their way again. A hug that does not judge, but that extends its hand. (…) Today that mission continues. It continues in the work of our hands, in the dream that grows every day in this pasta factory. Because we believe that dignity is not preached; it is built; it is kneaded; it is given.”
The actual moment of the inauguration followed, when Alberto Mochi Onori and Cardinal Baldassarre Reina uncovered the plaque so as not to forget the beginning of this dream. “March 28, 2013 – Pope Francis and Father Gaetano Greco unleashed hope.” Edoardo Iacolucci’s documentary dedicated to the creation of the mural was then screened on the perimeter wall of the juvenile prison, while the young protagonists retraced the stages of the project.
Also present at the event were Sister Ausilia De Siena, Councilor for the Communications Sector of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, with her collaborators who, shortly before the start of the work on the mural, had created a CommTalkS interviewing the President, the young employees of the Pastificio, an educator, and Sister Aurora Consolini, FMA of St. John Bosco Province (IRO) who has been working as a volunteer at the juvenile prison for some years. Sister Aurora contributed to the realization of this project, which has “opened the doors” to several dreams, in the works for now.
The evening concluded with a convivial moment, which included Pastificio Futuro pasta, cooked for the occasion by a chef, in a family atmosphere that brought together various people united by the desire to work together to give these young people a future of hope.
