In enchanted little towns south of Naples, there are a surprising number of centenarians. How can they live so long?
The fact that we have come to do research, i.e. to work, is bad. Some villagers shake their heads in greeting. They are sitting with Jerry, on wicker chairs that belong to the bar and from which they look over the fig tree into the bay. You should go on holiday here, they say, but not work! The setting sun bathes the ridiculously beautiful place in orange light, a wild bush sways on the church tower in the evening wind. Below, a woman is nimbly picking capers from the bush. Pollica in Cilento, 2,200 inhabitants, two and a half hours drive from Naples down the winding coast. The region has the Italian word for slow in its name, lento. That’s how life goes here.
And it’s been going on for quite a long time. According to a census in 2019, there were more than 300 centenarians among the area’s approximately 90,000 inhabitants. According to the mayor of Pollica, there are now as many as 400. Of course, some die. The pandemic, pneumonia, a heart that simply stops beating. But new old people keep coming.
We, the most modern people, track our steps with apps, optimize our rest periods, invest in treatments for body and mind. And in Pollica, where the reception is sluggish in the alleys between the thick walls of the palazzi, where old men bang their playing cards on the table in the evenings and the women cross themselves every time they walk past the church, do they still end up getting older? Live healthier lives? How is that possible?
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
