Sardinia is a land of centenarians. The unusual concentration of “great elders” inhabiting the island has drawn the attention of Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain – later joined by Dan Buettner – who in the 2000s introduced the concept of Blue Zones, areas where people live longer and healthier lives than in the rest of the world.

Italy, a country with an aging population facing a demographic winter, is increasingly home to people over 80, nonagenarians, centenarians, and super-centenarians. The National Institute of Statistics calculated that from 2009 to 2021, the number of residents in Italy aged 100 and over rose from just over 10,000 to 17,000, with 83% of them being women.