The secrets of Bolotana, the sleepy Sardinian village where women are living to 100... and beyond

At the grand age of 102, Maddalena Falchi insists she has a few regrets in life. One is never having seen the legendary Le Mans 24-hour motor race in person.

A lifelong Ferrari fanatic, whose favourite driver is Michael Schumacher, her other 'great passions' in life are horse riding and embroidery.

Despite being a heavy smoker for much of her life, Maddalena has reached an age that, statistically speaking, few will.

And while her longevity is remarkable, she is far from the only woman from the Sardinian mountain village where she was born to reach such an extraordinary age.

When a group of scientists researching longevity visited the area a few years ago, they asked Maddalena's fellow centenarian, 101-year-old Giovannina Marras, who prepared her meals.

'I cook everything myself,' she replied indignantly, according to a report in Corriere della Sera, one of Italy's leading daily newspapers.

To prove the point, Giovannina insisted the researchers stayed for lunch.

Now, the results of their fascinating study has revealed that Bolotana, a remote community of around 2,300 people, is a potential new longevity hotspot. 

Women in their 70s who live here have an estimated 13.8 per cent chance of celebrating their 100th birthday. 

That's almost one in seven – compared with just 3.5 per cent of women in Italy as a whole.

Only Hong Kong has a higher rate of female longevity, accoridng to a study published this week in the journal Frontiers in Aging.

Sardinia is already famous for its centenarian men, with the mountinous regions of Ogliastra and Nuoro previously named as 'blue zone' – one of a handful of places around the world where unusually large numbers of people live to 100.

But in Bolotana, some 70 miles away, women are leading the way. 

All six of the village's surviving centenarians are female: Maddalena Falchi and Antonia Giglio, both born in 1924; Giovannina Marras and Pietrina Serra, born in 1925; and Filomena Scarpa and Giuseppa Piras, born in 1926.

There could soon be even more. Town mayor Francesco Manconi says two residents are expected to celebrate their 100th birthdays in the coming months.

'It's something extraordinary,' he says. 'They represent our history, our cultural identity, and we have a duty to preserve and enhance this heritage.

'It's a clear demonstration of the quality of life in our town, and we hope it can attract not only tourists but also new residents.'

So what is the secret to their extraordinary longevity? 

'I'm not a scientist, but it's probably a combination of things,' says Mayor Manconi, who points to the first clue: the dinner table.

'Our diet contains lots of grains and vegetables, and the meat comes from free-range pastures, not factory farms.'

According to local guides, residents enjoy generous daily helpings of fresh fruit and vegetables, alongside olive oil, potatoes, and pasta.

For a long time, homes were also fitted with wood-fired ovens for residents to make their own bread.

Pulses, like dried beans and chickpeas, are also staples. Rich in fibre, these foods can help prevent digestive diseases like bowel cancer, and lower levels of harmful LDL cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Seafood is another favourite, rich in a host of fatty acids known to boost heart health. 

Red meat and wine are said to be consumed sparingly in Bolatana. But that is not to say the residents do not leave any room for indulgences. 

For example, one much-loved breakfast treat is mustazzoli – traditional Sardinian biscuits flavoured with spices and sweetened with honey or grape syrup.

Then there is pecorino, the area's hard, salty cheese made from sheep's milk, which is a favourite in local cooking.

Pecorino is a key ingredient in seadas, a traditional sweet dish made from semolina – a coarse flour made from durum wheat – fried until golden and drizzled with honey.

Researchers say that diet alone does not explain why so many women in Bolotana are reaching their second century. 

The scientists – led out of the University of Sassari in Italy and the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the US – believe physical activity may play an important part. 

While Bolotana has no gyms, residents hardly need them.

Built on steep hillsides beneath the Marghine mountains, the village has traditionally required residents to walk long distances to tend fields, visit neighbours and go about daily life.

'Older people have always walked a lot to reach the fields, even 20 kilometers a day,' says Mayor Manconi. 'I'd say it was mostly women.'

Researchers also believe the tight-knit nature of the area may be helping residents live longer.

'You've got this close-knit community where people take care of each other,' Professor Stuart Jay Olshansky, one of the study's researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, told The Guardian.

Giovanni Mario Pes, a professor at the University of Sassari and the study's lead scientist, found this too. 

A Sardinian himself, Prof Pes's grandfather lived to the age of 110, while his mother has also passed her 100th birthday.

'The extraordinary thing is that the longevity of the women in Bolotana is three times higher than that of most western women,' he said.

While he and his team cannot explain exactly why this is the case, Prof Pes said he was struck by how 'very intense and very real' the women's relationships were. 

Recalling his visit to Giovannina Marras, who still lives with her sister, he said: 'They live together, they cook together, they talk to each other easily.

'There was absolutely no sign of cognitive decline.' 

To conduct their research, scientists analysed records of residents born between 1900 and 1925.

They found that 38 went on to live beyond their 100th birthdays, a figure 57 per cent above the Italian national average.

'The important thing is that, for the first time in more than 25 years, we have found a place for longevity outside of the conventional blue zone [in Sardinia],' said Prof Pes. 

Crucially, the authors stressed that Boltana cannot be considered as an official 'blue zone' for now. 

But their findings offer an intriguing insight into what may help people live longer, healthier lives – and what the rest of us the world might learn from them.