I had my annual checkup Wednesday. Besides the all-day exams costing only €452 as compared to nearly $3,000 for the same tests in the larcenous U.S., the other good news is I received a clean bill of health. I’m lucky. Deadly diseases often pick victims at random. Good genes are inherited, not earned. But there’s another reason I’m 67 and in no fear of “checking out” soon. I live in Italy. 

That line makes Americans smirk, like when I say my favorite sport now is soccer. The No. 1 question I get is how are Italians so fit in the land of pasta and pizza? The American view of the Italian diet is what Italian food is in the U.S. Sorry. Domino’s pizza lasted seven years here and gave up. A running joke among Italians who visit the U.S. is that Olive Garden’s breadsticks could grease their Fiat.