Starting from 2016, thanks to a study carried out by Prof. Giovani Pes, Senior researcher of the University of Sassari and Prof. Micel Poulain, expert in demographics and Professor Emeritus of the University of Louvain, the Ogliastra centers of Arzana, Baunei, Seulo, Talana, Treie, Urzulei e Villagrande Strisaili (area easily accessible from our Galanias Hotel & Retreat ) have been recognized as one of the 5 blue zone in the world.
The demographic parameters that led to this choice are evident: the extraordinary number of centenarians in the area that has Seulo as its peak (not even 800 residents), with as many as 20 centenarians alive from 1996 to 2016.
Many hypotheses have been made about the reasons that generated this extraordinary rate of longevity.
However, there are some points in common with other areas of the world that have similar percentages of centenarians such as food and lifestyle. Let’s now take a look at those of this corner of Sardinia
The lifestyle of the Ogliastra centenarians
Here time is marked by nature. The seasons regulate agricultural and pastoral activities and consequently affect the lives of the people who live in those environments. It is not uncommon to find people in their nineties cultivating their own vegetable garden while their wives still make bread at home. The stress of life prey to consumerism is a distant thing here. Contact with nature is daily: if air and water healthiness are elements taken for granted, natural respect for the environment is the element that characterizes the life of these countries.
The food of the Sardinia Blue Zone
The gastronomy of Ogliastra, which we have already talked about in relation to sweets, sees the cornerstone of the diet in agro-pastoral activity and local agricultural products. It has always been based and still today in particular on simple and not very elaborate foods: bread (including the famous pistoccu), milk, cheese, roasted meats, vegetables and seasonal fruit.
Even the recipes reflect this simplicity, daughter of an era in which waste was not allowed.
A typical example of this philosophy is “sa soup’e istadi”, essentially the soup made in the summer that sees the use of spring and summer vegetables.
Another poor but substantial dish is “casu axedu”, fresh milk to which rennet and whey is added and then curdled, which is eaten simply spread in pistoccu or added to salads to give flavor and substance.
Lamb, kid and more rarely pork are also part of this diet, to which is added the consumption of a glass of red wine per meal.
A healthy and balanced diet, with a very high percentage of local products, but in which everything is consumed in moderation. In the land of the centenarians, excesses at the table are not welcome.
Sardinia is one of the 5 blue zones in the world due to its particular genetics.
This topic has undoubtedly aroused great interest, which also has repercussions on a global scale. In fact, important universities in Italy and abroad have shown themselves to be very interested in studying the genome of these countries. What is certain is that we are in one of the areas where. due to the few exchanges with the outside world. DNA has changed minimally since the Neolithic
A foundation has been created for the custody of this genetic heritage, the Ogliastra DNA, which will safeguard and make this information publicly available.
Given the salient points of Ogliastra’s longevity, it is important to note how this initially remarkable event in the scientific field has been reflected in the territory.
The land of the centenarians as a tourist driver
Surely spending time in these villages, having the opportunity to know and experience the habits of its inhabitants, try traditional cuisine, devote oneself to the activities that they have practiced for centuries and over ninety years can give ideas.
A different holiday than usual, an authentic journey within the journey, which remains etched in the memory and which perhaps improves life, making us reflect on priorities and perhaps helps to change perspective on the way of understanding life.
Our Galanias Hotel & Retreat , located about 40 minutes by car from the towns of the blue zone, it can be an excellent base for discovering this still little-known area of Sardinia.
Ogliastra, the land of the centenarians in the collective imagination
Together with scientific and now also tourist aspects, the land of the centenarians has become the subject of important media attention. In addition to numerous reports from international newspapers including National Geographic, the beautiful documentary by the ogliastra’s director Pietro Mereu has recently been made, “Il club dei centenari”.
Shot between Arzana, Baunei, Talana, Urzulei and Villagrande Strisaili, it gives an evocative but without rhetoric cross-section of the centenarians who live there, documenting their lifestyle with direct evidence.
“The idea stems from the need to help raise awareness of the exceptional characteristics of the Ogliastra area, beyond the easy spectacle of numbers and the exceptional nature of the phenomenon“. – declares Mereu.
With this short article we hope to have given you some useful information on this certainly less known but equally fascinating area. In fact, Sardinia is not only more or less known beaches but also a place full of surprises and unique features such as Ogliastra, the land of the centenarians.
