Sardinian village where more women reach 100 may be new centenarian ‘blue zone’

In Bolotana, 70 miles from island’s original blue zone, 13% of women who reach 70 will live on to a century

The secret to longevity is being a woman – specifically, a woman in one part of Sardinia. At least, that is the conclusion of a study on centenarians in a tiny mountain village on the Italian island.

Now Bolotana, located in the Margine area of central Sardinia about 70 miles (110km) from the island’s original blue zone, has emerged as a new potential candidate, researchers say, generating centenarians every year in a trend driven by women.

In Italy, where the number of centenarians has more than doubled since 2009, 3.5% of women who make it to 70 will achieve the milestone.

The study began in 2024 and as of last year there were 12 centenarians among a population of 2,266 in Bolotana – roughly 12 times the Sardinian average.

The findings also showed that, compared with the world’s other four blue zones – Okinawa in Japan, the Nicoya peninsula in Costa Rica, Ikaria in Greece and Loma Linda in California in the US – Sardinia’s zone was expanding.

“But while Bolotana shares the same characteristics, it is even more exceptional. Whereas the original zone had an unusual balance between the two sexes, here female longevity prevails.”

Pes, a Sardinian whose great-grandfather lived to 110 and whose mother is 101, declined to be drawn into hypothesising over the secrets to the village’s longevity, saying the study was “limited to pointing out the existence of the phenomenon”.

However, after spending time with sprightly centenarian women there, he said what struck him most were the “very intense and very real social relations” maintained throughout their lives.

Francesco Manconi, the mayor of Bolotana, offered some theories. “I’m not a scientist but it’s probably a mix of things,” he told Corriere della Sera, citing a clean, fresh diet, although he said nobody renounced seada, a traditional local pastry filled with cheese, or mustazzolus, a spiced biscuit often eaten at breakfast.

As of November 2025, official statistics showed there were 23,548 residents in Italy who were aged 100 or over, up 2,000 from the previous year. Of those eclipsing a century last year, 82.6% were women.