Photo by Kelli S. Hewett.
Birmingham native Terry Colafrancesco opened Villaggio Colafrancesco in 2022. He designed the no-cell-phone policy and modesty-based dress code out of what he describes as love and respect, with the goal of giving visitors an experience centered on human connection and a slower way of life.
On a busy stretch of U.S. 280, visitors entering Villaggio Colafrancesco Italian village are greeted with shocking rules for 2026: no cell phones, no revealing clothes — no exceptions.
Photo by Kelli S. Hewett
Villaggio Colafrancesco on U.S. 280 near Sterrett operates under a strict no-cell-phone policy and modesty-based dress code, with women in shorts above the knee or bare shoulders offered complimentary disposable black paper skirts at the entrance. The Italian-style village, open since 2022, includes a coffee shop with beans roasted on site, a gelato shop franchised from Rome’s Old Bridge Gelateria near the Vatican, an organic market and outdoor gathering spaces designed to evoke rural Italy.
Women arriving in leggings, short skirts or shorts above the knee will politely hear the modesty-based dress code. If they still want to enter, they must don disposable black paper skirts, provided at no charge. Cell phones are relegated to the trunks of the cars.
Guests are expected to unplug, cover up, slow down.
And for the most part, visitors are happy to comply for the chance at forced relaxation, Italian hospitality and some pretty incredible espresso and gelato, all modeled after an iconic gelato shop near the Vatican.
Photo by Kelli S. Hewett
Customers use words like peace, tranquility and calm to describe the appeal. There’s simply no place like it where the ground “rules” hearken back to the late 1900s.
“We’re in a life right now where it’s just technology, technology, technology,” said Stephanie De Molina of Hoover, whose husband, Max, found out about the spot online two years ago. “Here it’s an atmosphere to disconnect, have one-on-one time with my husband, have one-on-one time with my baby. It’s the uniqueness; they center it with God. It’s beautiful. It’s not strictness.”
Auburn University college students Sara Campbell of Vestavia Hills and her friend Liz Brasfield of Atlanta were happy to tie on the black paper midi skirts when they showed up unaware of the Villaggio dress code.
“I like it; stay modest,” Brasfield said.
Both of the Gen Zers also appreciated the technology limits.
“It just feels, like, disconnected,” Campbell said. “I can have intentional time with my friend Liz. And it’s really pretty here.”
In 2022, as the doors first opened, some internet voices predicted Villaggio Colafrancesco’s swift demise. Critics deemed the no-cell-phone policy as out of touch and antiquated and the dress code biased against women for banning short shorts, short skirts, visible cleavage and bare shoulders.
Articles were published, morning radio shows debated.
Now, four years later, customers are still locking up, covering up and lining up for espresso, gelato and paninis at the Italian-style village.
The concept includes a European-inspired coffee shop, a gelato shop, an all-natural and organic market and gift shop, outdoor tables with in-the-forest charm and Italian string lights, and a main gathering spot that includes indoor seating, a year-round fireplace and rocking chairs that people drive miles to enjoy.
Photo by Kelli S. Hewett
The village’s owner, founder and ever-sociable host is Birmingham native Terry Colafrancesco, the product of a strong Italian-Catholic family. He says the rules were made out of love and respect, not shame or hatred.
“I know that what we offer — our gelato, coffee and Italian panini — are number one,” he said. “They can’t get what we have anywhere else. But most of the ones who initially challenge the rules come back dressed modest and follow the rules.”
Colafrancesco rose to worldwide attention in Catholic circles in the 1980s.
The licensed tree surgeon, excavator and landscaper had started a nonprofit called Caritas of Birmingham in 1986 when, about three months in, he had a life-changing experience in the European town of Medjugorje, in Bosnia and Herzegovina (formerly Yugoslavia).
The small community had become an international pilgrimage site in the 1980s when six local young people reported visions of the Virgin Mary.
Colafrancesco visited and was inspired to change the nonprofit’s mission to spread news of Medjugorje.
He brought them for visits to his farm in Shelby County, where more visions were reported in a local field. That sparked expansive media coverage and some parking and traffic complaints.
Thousands of primarily Catholic visitors have since come to Colafrancesco’s property for pilgrimages, where his efforts grew to include books, public speaking, broadcasts and a team of like-minded students and missionaries who have joined him on his family’s property near Sterrett.
Those Caritas team members staff Villaggio as part of their work, many dedicating their time without pay.
“Our guests repeatedly express both in writing [in] our comment books and verbally how they immediately feel a peace when they step on the grounds here,” said longtime Caritas team member Jessica Ross. “They forget their concerns and worries. If you read Google reviews, there are some that have described the experience at Villaggio Colafrancesco as a ‘Hallmark movie.’”
Photo by Kelli S. Hewett
The vibe is charming, authentic Italian excellence, with onsite coffee bean roasting blueprinted by one of the world’s top baristas (also Catholic) and ice cream-inspired gelato from the only North American franchise of the Old Bridge Gelateria, in Rome near the Vatican.
Popular flavors include ricotta pistachio, sour cherry and fondente dark chocolate, as well as strawberry and lemon sorbet. Regulars will tell you the magic is in pairing the flavors into creative, bespoke combinations.
The authentic Italian sodas have some of the fizziest soda water available in the world, and ingredients in general are sourced organically as often as possible.
Part coffee shop, part Italian market and part agrarian experiment, the village was designed to feel transported from rural Italy into suburban Alabama. The property is built around the vision of a slower way of life. Beams were hewn at the mill on Colafrancesco’s farm.
Drinks are prepared openly in front of customers using equipment imported from Italy, including commercial espresso machines from Simonelli, one of the top commercial brands in the world.
Colafrancesco intentionally designed the coffee shop to resemble the smaller cafes he encountered in Italy — intimate spaces where conversations still trump screens. Small spaces can lead to some great conversations and human connections.
Photo by Kelli S. Hewett
Time and again, people thank him for conversations that occur with family members, particularly younger ones, when the phones are locked away.
While the 280 village attracts customers and visitors, both religious and nonreligious, the Catholic foundation is evident in the Italian-style religious artwork, in the Bibles on tables and mantles etc., and in most any conversation with Colafrancesco, who circulates around like the cherished elder statesman.
“To give people the experience of disconnecting from computers, cell phones, etc.,” Colafrancesco said, “for me, it’s about making people happy, bringing them joy and giving a witness that shows people not to work for the dollar, but work for a way of life.”
For more on Villaggio Colafrancesco, hours, menu and the dress code, visitvcitalia.com.
