L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 8 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2022 L'Italo-Americano S a r d i n i a , along with other areas of Italy such as Cilento (Campa- n i a ) , i s a p l a c e w i t h r e a c h i n g 1 0 0 i s n o t that unusual, and it is espe- cially so in Perdasdefogu, in the province of Nuoro, a village of just over 1,700 that recently celebrated the b i r t h d a y o f i t s n i n t h a n d tenth centenarians. Vitto- rio Lai turned 100 on the 1 2 t h o f F e b r u a r y , while Piuccia Lai (same surname but no relation) reached the goal a handful o f d a y s l a t e r . A c c o r d i n g to Angela Giuffrida, who narrated their story for The G u a r d i a n , b o t h a r e a s s p r i t e l y a n d a c t i v e a s teenagers, with Vittorio still driving and hunting wild boar, and Piuccia flying reg- ularly to Milan to see her children. Perdasdefogu is set in the deep Sardinian countryside and gets its name from the calcareous stones typical of the area and once used to p r o d u c e l i m e : t h e y w e r e b a k e d i n l a r g e f u r n a c e s , becoming "stones made of fire," which is exactly what t h e n a m e P e r d a s d e f o g u m e a n s i n S a r d i n i a n . However, if you visit, you'll hear locals call their home- town "Fughesu," which they seem to like better. The birthdays of Vittorio and Piuccia only add to the mystique of Perdasdefogu, a place known for the longevi- ty of its inhabitants. It is, in fact, part of the "Ogliastra blue zone," one of the five areas in the world where people easily – and healthily – reach above-average age. T h e o t h e r s a r e I c a r i a i n Greece, Okinawa in Japan, N i c o y a i n C o s t a R i c a , a n d L o m a L i n d a i n California. Blue zones are a r e a s o f t h e w o r l d w h e r e longevity is at least 10 times h i g h e r t h a n t h e a v e r a g e ; they have been discovered thanks to what had started as a National Geographic project ideated and guided by Dan Buettner, and ended up being an evidence-based study, carried out with the contribution of demogra- phers, anthropologists and scientists, set to identify the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s o f t h o s e p a r t s o f t h e w o r l d w h e r e reaching a century of life was normal. In 2014, Perdasdefogu hit the news when it emerged it was home to the oldest fam- i l y i n t h e w o r l d : b a c k then, Consòla Melis had t u r n e d 1 0 0 , b r i n g i n g t h e joined age of the Melis fami- ly (nine siblings in total) to a staggering 837 years. As a m a t t e r o f f a c t , C o n s ò l a ' s eldest sister, Consolata, is the longest-surviving fugh- ese to date: she passed away in 2015, aged 108. At the m o m e n t , t h e r e c o r d o f eldest in town is solidly in t h e h a n d s o f A n t o n i o Brundu, who will turn 104 in just a couple of weeks. L a s t y e a r , i n 2021, Federica Melis – same surname but no con- nection with Consòla and her relatives – became the 8 t h p e r s o n t o r e a c h 1 0 0 y e a r s o f a g e . T h e n , l a s t week, Vittorio and Piuccia brought the number to 10. An amazing record, and not only because of the num- b e r s : t h e s e p e o p l e a r e i n surprisingly good form for being over a century old, and this isn't true only for t h e c e n t e n a r i a n s o f P e r d a s d e f o g u . I f y o u a s k locals, and Sardinians in general, it all comes down to diet and lifestyle, something that has been largely con- f i r m e d a l s o b y s c i e n t i f i c r e s e a r c h : w e a r e t a l k i n g about people who follow a s i m p l e , f r e e - f r o m - processed-ingredients diet, b a s e d o n f r e s h , s e a s o n a l vegetables and pulses. They a l s o w a l k e v e r y w h e r e , despite their age, because why should you ask for a lift, when your legs carry y o u p e r f e c t l y w e l l ? I n a n interview with Il Corriere della Sera, 80-years-old G i a c o m o M a m e l i , l o c a l writer and historian, said that Perdasdefogu's secret to longevity is all in its clean water and air and, of course, in people's simple, healthy lifestyle. But there must be something more, because, back in 2021, a researcher f r o m t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f C a g l i a r i , L u i s a S a l a r i s , pointed out the proportion o f o v e r - 1 0 0 s i n P e r d a s d e f o g u i s 1 6 t i m e s higher than in the rest of the country: 10 in 1.740, against 30 in 100.000. W i t h i t s 1 0 c e n t e n a r i , "Fughesu" keeps the title of the oldest corner of Italy and does so with pride, as it should: villagers are clearly d o i n g s o m e t h i n g r i g h t t o keep this healthy for so long and we may like to take a l e a f o u t o f t h e i r b o o k , a t least when it comes to keep- ing a healthy lifestyle, eating well and slowing down a lit- tle. Stress is the worst killer, let's not forget. But there is something else that strikes about this small, tight-knit c o m m u n i t y , w h i c h w e should respect and take as an example: their profound r e s p e c t f o r t h e i r e l d e r l y , who are cared for by the vil- lage as a whole, not only by t h e i r f a m i l i e s . T h e y a r e m o r e t h a n " o l d p e o p l e , " they are Perdasdefogu's his- torical and cultural memo- ry. And then, the centenari- a n s o f t o d a y b e l o n g t o a generation that fought wars a n d e x p e r i e n c e d h u n g e r , who knew poverty, but also t h e l i g h t h e a r t e d n e s s o f times where people under- stood happiness is a simple affair and that it wasn't that difficult to bite into it. There is still a lot we can learn from this great generation. There is still a lot we can learn. Elderly men enjoying a chat. Perdasdefogu, in Sardinia, celebrated this month its 9th and 10th centenarians' birthdays (Photo: Andrew Balcombe/Dreamstime) Come to Perdasdefogu, the village of Italian centenari CHIARA D'ALESSIO LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE

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