Sardinian village emerges as new 'blue zone' with exceptional female longevity rates

Bolotana sits in the central mountains of Sardinia, a village of just over 2,200 people, unremarkable to most travelers passing through. But something unusual is happening there. Women in this small corner of the island are living to 100 at rates that rival the most longevity-blessed places on Earth—and researchers have only just begun to understand why.

For more than a quarter century, Sardinia held a singular reputation in the study of human aging. In 1999, scientists identified five geographic pockets around the world where people lived dramatically longer than average, clustering in remote mountain villages and isolated communities. They called these places blue zones. Sardinia's original blue zone, nestled in the central and eastern provinces, became famous for producing centenarians at unusual rates, particularly men. It was a phenomenon that drew researchers, journalists, and the curious from around the world.

Now, 70 miles away from that original zone, Bolotana has emerged as something even more striking. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Sassari in Sardinia and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, published this year in the journal Frontiers in Aging, found that 13.8 percent of women in Bolotana who reach age 70 will live to see 100. That places the village second globally for female longevity, behind only Hong Kong. By comparison, in Italy overall, just 3.5 percent of women who reach 70 achieve the century mark. The researchers analyzed birth records of people born in the village between 1900 and 1925 and found 38 had lived past 100—a rate 57 percent higher than the Italian national average.

When the study began in 2024, Bolotana had 12 centenarians among its population of 2,266—roughly 12 times the average for Sardinia as a whole. Six have since died. The six remaining are all women, with the two eldest at 102 years old. More residents are expected to cross the century threshold by the end of this year and into 2027. Giovanni Mario Pes, the lead researcher and one of the original architects of the blue zone concept, told the Guardian that this discovery marks the first time in more than 25 years that scientists have identified a new longevity hotspot outside the conventional blue zones. "But while Bolotana shares the same characteristics, it is even more exceptional," Pes said. "Whereas the original zone had an unusual balance between the two sexes, here female longevity prevails."

Pes, himself Sardinian—his great-grandfather lived to 110 and his mother is 101—stopped short of declaring the mystery solved. The study, he emphasized, was "limited to pointing out the existence of the phenomenon." But after spending time with the village's centenarian women, he found himself struck by something less quantifiable: the texture of their daily lives. He described Giovanna Marras, 101, who lives with her sister. "They live together, they cook together, they talk to each other easily," Pes said. "There was absolutely no sign of cognitive decline." What impressed him most was the intensity and authenticity of the social bonds these women maintained throughout their lives.

Bolotana's mayor, Francesco Manconi, offered his own observations, though he was careful to frame them as speculation rather than science. The village's diet likely plays a role—fresh, uncontaminated food from the surrounding landscape. Yet he noted that the centenarians do not abstain from local pleasures: seada, a traditional pastry filled with cheese, and mustazzolus, a spiced biscuit often eaten at breakfast, remain part of their diet. The unspoiled nature of the area surrounding the village may contribute as well. Physical activity, too, seems significant. Bolotana has no gym, but elderly residents have always walked considerable distances—sometimes as much as 20 kilometers a day—and Manconi observed that these walkers were mostly women.

The broader context underscores how dramatically Italy's demographic landscape has shifted. As of November 2025, the country had 23,548 residents aged 100 or older, up 2,000 from the previous year. Of those who crossed the century mark last year, 82.6 percent were women. Women also dominate Italy's population of semi-supercentenarians—those 105 and older—and among the 19 supercentenarians aged 110 and beyond. Bolotana's emergence as a longevity hotspot is not an isolated anomaly but part of a larger pattern. What makes it exceptional is the concentration, the consistency, and the fact that it has gone unrecognized until now. As more residents approach and reach 100 in the coming months, the village will offer researchers an ongoing laboratory for understanding what allows some women to not merely survive to old age, but to thrive.