> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://aarr.org/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # A Sardinian Village Where Women Live Unusually Long May Be the Next Blue Zone - URL: https://aarr.org/bolotana-sardinia-possible-new-blue-zone/ - Published: 2026-10-26T15:45:36.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-26T15:45:36.000Z - Description: A new study names Bolotana, a mountain village of about 2,300 people in Sardinia, as a possible new blue zone, a place where people live unusually long lives. Its women have done especially well. People there walk nearly everywhere, eat mainly what they grow, and live close to family. - Author: AARR Staff - Tags: News, Diet & Nutrition, Physical Fitness, Social Connections ## A Mountain Village in Sardinia Draws Longevity Researchers Researchers have named Bolotana, a mountain village of about 2,300 people on the Italian island of Sardinia, as a possible new blue zone, a place where people live unusually long lives compared with those around them. The term comes from the blue markings researchers used when they first mapped Sardinia's long-lived villages. Recognized blue zones include Okinawa in Japan, Ikaria in Greece, the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, and a cluster of mountain villages in another part of Sardinia. The study, published in early October in a scientific journal, was led by Giovanni Mario Pes of the University of Sassari. Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Explorer known for his work on blue zones, was one of its authors, and National Geographic supported the work. “By some measures, Bolotana is the most extraordinary blue zone,” Buettner said. ## What the Researchers Found The team studied people 70 and older who lived in Bolotana over the most recent five years. A woman in the village who reached 70 had an estimated 13.8 percent chance of living to 100, more than three times the 3.6 percent chance for a woman the same age in the United States. On average, she could expect to live nearly 21 more years. Compared with figures from other long-lived places, which covered earlier years, only Hong Kong did better for women. The study's standout finding was for women, and the gap between Bolotana's women and men appeared wider than in Sardinia or Italy as a whole. In Sardinia's original blue zone, by contrast, it was the men who became known for living long. Bolotana has kept careful birth, death, and church records for more than a century, and the team used them to confirm the age of everyone it found who had reached 100\. That check matters because some critics have argued that reports of very long lives can rest on inaccurate records. ## Habit One: Walking Everywhere Bolotana has no gym, and most people there never set out to exercise. They walk nearly everywhere instead, and because the village sits on the slopes of the Marghine mountains, everyday errands mean climbing up and down steep streets. Few people get around by car. Giovanna Marras is 101, and her sister Mariangela, at 99, still does the shopping, which means a walk down a hilly street and back up again. Buettner says the village's steep streets and lack of cars give people “medium-range cardio every day without thinking about it.” ## Habit Two: Little Meat, Lots of Beans and Vegetables For most of their lives, Bolotana's residents ate meat only about five times a month. Families eat mainly what they grow or make themselves, including wheat from their fields, olive oil, and cheese from the sheep they raise. They drink wine, but not much. Everyday meals center on beans, pasta, potatoes, and food from the garden. One traditional dish is minestrone, a hearty vegetable soup. Buettner says the village still has no fast-food restaurants. The Marras sisters cook for themselves, and they have not given up meat, cheese, or wine. ## Habit Three: Family, Friends, and Neighbors Close By Families in Bolotana often live several generations under one roof, sharing the housework and the raising of children. It is a close-knit place where people take care of one another, and few residents seem to live cut off from others. The mayor, Francesco Manconi, credits the affection older residents get from family, neighbors, and friends. The village, he says, makes a point of letting them stay in their own homes. Pes says people in Bolotana keep up close relationships throughout their lives. He pointed to Giovanna Marras and her sister, who live together, cook together, and talk easily, and he saw no sign of mental decline. He has also noticed a strong sense of sisterhood among the village's women, something he wants to study. ## Why the Women May Live Longer Buettner thinks the answer may lie in who does the work at home. Bolotana is half farming and half sheep raising, he says, and that mix means many of its men are home to help their wives with the daily chores. In his view, sharing that work eases the strain on the women, and that may help explain why they live longer. The team also suspects that genes may play a part and is tracing family trees to look for clues. ## What the Study Did and Did Not Show The study shows that people in Bolotana, and women above all, lived unusually long lives in recent years, but it did not test whether walking, diet, or family ties are the reason. The researchers call Bolotana a candidate blue zone rather than a confirmed one. When they looked at earlier years, the village's numbers were much less remarkable. In a village this small, a handful of deaths can change the results, so they say more years of records are needed. ## What Americans Might Take From Bolotana “We always think we’re going to schedule in enough exercise, and we never do,” Buettner said of Americans. In Bolotana, nobody has to plan it, because getting almost anywhere means a walk. He also warns that the village's way of life may not last. If cars, smartphones, and American junk food take hold, he expects type 2 diabetes to soar and heart disease, dementia, and many cancers to rise. The village's long lives, he says, could fade within a generation. That is why the team wants to learn what it can from Bolotana now.