{"id":886604,"date":"2026-10-18T12:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T12:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/886604\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T12:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T12:38:10","slug":"is-sisterhood-the-secret-to-a-long-life-the-sardinian-village-that-could-hold-key-to-womens-longevity-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/886604\/","title":{"rendered":"Is sisterhood the secret to a long life? The Sardinian village that could hold key to women\u2019s longevity | Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Giovanna Marras opens the door to her home in Bolotana, a mountain village in central Sardinia, her eyes are bright with curiosity as she sizes up her visitors. Her sister, Mariangela, peeks out too, soon ushering her guests inside and handing out dishes of ice-cream. The sisters are full of life, talking animatedly. Giovanna is 101 and Mariangela is 99.<\/p>\n

Sitting in their living room, Giovanna swiftly recaps her life story: she excelled at school before moving to Cagliari, the capital of the Italian island, at 18 to train as a seamstress. The sisters went on to run a successful tailoring business in Bolotana before travelling the world after retirement. Neither married.<\/p>\n

Giovanna and Mariangela Marras when they were younger. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone did come to the house and ask my parents for my hand in marriage,\u201d Giovanna said. \u201cI told them to tell him to go away \u2013 I mean, a woman should at least know her future husband.\u201d Mariangela is equally as feisty in her response. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to get married \u2026 I walk my own path, I don\u2019t need support.\u201d<\/p>\n

The details of their lives are now being examined as part of a broader pattern of exceptional longevity in Bolotana<\/a>, where women are driving a trend that could put the village, population 2,266, in the running to be the world\u2019s sixth \u201cblue zone\u201d \u2013 geographic areas with unusually high concentrations of centenarians. Sardinia was home to the first such zone<\/a>, identified more than 25 years ago.<\/p>\n

A study by professors at the University of Sassari and the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the US, published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Aging<\/a> last week, found that 13.8% of women in Bolotana who reach the age of 70 will live to 100 \u2013 placing it second in the world for female longevity after Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

Giovanna is the third eldest of six female centenarians in Bolotana, after Tonia Giglio and Maddalena Falchi, both 102. By the end of this year, two other women are expected to reach the milestone, and in 2027 two more, including Mariangela. The last male centenarian, Giovanni Madau, died in July, a few months short of his 102nd birthday.<\/p>\n

Tore Pedde, the president of Orminas<\/a>, a cultural association, played a crucial role in uncovering Bolotana as a potential longevity hotspot after painstakingly searching its demographic archives, even tracking down centenarians born in the village who had long since moved overseas.<\/p>\n

Records of people born in Bolotana between 1900 and 1925 showed that 38 had lived beyond 100, putting their longevity rate at 57% higher than the Italian national average.<\/p>\n

Tore Pedde helped uncover Bolotana as a potential longevity hotspot. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cUp until the early 1900s, Bolotana followed a trend whereby men significantly outnumbered women among the elderly,\u201d Pedde said. \u201cFrom the early 20th century onwards, however, the trend shifted and women began to outnumber men. Later, the number of female centenarians started to far exceed the male ones, and this trend continues today.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it has already been well established that women live longer for biological reasons, scientists behind the study are tracing family trees in search of genetic clues to Bolotana\u2019s female longevity. They are also exploring the roles of diet, physical activity and social connections.<\/p>\n

Filomena Scarpa is a former language teacher who turned 100 in January. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

A striking characteristic of Bolotana\u2019s female centenarians is their independence. The Marras sisters still cook for themselves, eating a varied but clean diet without forsaking meat, cheese or wine. Mariangela does the shopping, which entails a walk down a hilly street and back.<\/p>\n

The women have grit and are remarkably lucid. Filomena Scarpa, a former language teacher who turned 100 in January, began learning German in her 90s and was a voracious reader before a problem with her left eye started to hinder her. \u201cIt saddens me not to be able to read with the same level of consistency,\u201d she said. She goes to a personal trainer twice a week. \u201cBecause I can\u2019t sit around all day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scarpa, who has two sons, is a childhood friend of Falchi, who now lives with her daughter about an hour away in Oristana. The pair speak often. Falchi is notorious in Bolotana for smoking like a trooper. \u201cI told her to quit because it\u2019s not good for her health,\u201d Scarpa said. \u201cBut she said: \u2018It hasn\u2019t got me so far, so I shall carry on.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Bolotana is situated in Sardinia\u2019s Marghine mountains, about 70 miles (110km) from the island\u2019s original blue zone \u2013 a cluster of villages nestled on the slopes<\/a> of the central and eastern provinces.<\/p>\n

Francesco Manconi, the mayor of Bolotana, believes \u2018the abundance of natural affection\u2019 helps the town\u2019s citizens live to a great age. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s special here is that for the first time we\u2019ve identified an area where women live to a great age, whereas the original blue zone was predominantly male,\u201d said Giovanni Mario Pes, who led the study and is a co-creator of the blue zone concept. \u201cWe therefore need to explain why longevity specifically affects women here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike the original villages, Bolotana is relatively close to cities, including Sassari and Alghero on the west coast. Still, its streets are steep, providing residents with unavoidable exercise. The environment is unspoiled and most people still eat fruit and vegetables grown in their gardens.<\/p>\n

One thing Pes noted among its female residents was a \u201cstrong sense of sisterhood\u201d. \u201cThis felt quite unusual and is something I\u2019d like to explore scientifically,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Bolotana is situated in Sardinia\u2019s Marghine mountains, about 70 miles from the island\u2019s original blue zone. Photograph: Victor Sokolowicz\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Francesco Manconi, the mayor of Bolotana, believes the sociality is key. \u201cThere is an abundance of natural affection, whether from family members, neighbours or friends, towards our elderly,\u201d he said, adding that the village placed \u201ca great importance\u201d on ensuring they could stay in their own homes.<\/p>\n

Betti Uda, who runs a tourism business, said the village\u2019s elderly women were determined and still tried to live purposefully. \u201cIf they want to do something, they will \u2013 nothing holds them back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Giovanna Marras opens the door to her home in Bolotana, a mountain village in central Sardinia, her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":886605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-886604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=886604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/886604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/886605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=886604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=886604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=886604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}