I lived like a 90-year-old Italian for a month and my health was transformed

 Amid the woodland-covered mountains of upper Liguria, in northern Italy, you can find small villages with clusters of houses made of terracotta and stone – and some of Europe’s longest-living residents.

When I first stayed in this area for an extended period a few years ago, I noticed my chronic joint pain and fatigue disappeared, only to quickly return once I was back in the UK. Was it the weather, or had the Ligurian lifestyle turned back the clock at a more fundamental level?

Italy is home to the oldest population in Europe, and new research by the University of Salerno shows Liguria is now the region with the greatest proportion of people living into their 90s, beating the country’s Blue Zone region of Sardinia.

So, what’s its secret? Determined to find out, I spent a month living in a mountain village in Liguria this summer with my husband and six-year-old son. I had no intention of skimping on pasta or wine, but I was keen to monitor how this new lifestyle affected my health.

Before I left, I recorded my weight, waist circumference, BMI and blood pressure, and checked my cholesterol levels with One Day Tests, which has private clinics around the UK. I also tracked my daily activity levels with a smartwatch.

At 39, my health was deemed normal for my age, but joint issues and a sedentary desk job meant I was quite unfit. The clinic’s Dr David Weinstein, a longevity expert, said this could reduce my “healthspan”.

Taking pride in the ageing process

Within days of arriving in Liguria, we were invited by a neighbour to a street party in a small square that connects the cobbled alleys. Everyone brought a home-cooked dish and ate together under the grapevines. I explained to a group of older women that I was writing about my trip for an article, and they delighted in asking me to guess their ages. “Can you believe I’m 82?” exclaimed Anna*, who could easily pass for 60. The eldest, Silvia*, 87, a self-proclaimed “la campionessa” (female champion) of ageing, said she still walks up hills each day without the use of a stick.

The women I spoke to – all aged between 75 and 87 – believe a mix of breathing clean air, eating nutritious food, being actively part of a community and navigating steep hills daily improves both the quality and the length of their lives here. “We don’t live like this back in Milan,” explained Maria*, 75, who stays in the mountains for summer. The rest of the time she looks after her grandchildren while her daughter works long hours in the city.

While older women here are always well turned-out, few have had any “tweakments” to alter their looks, and they all wear bikinis at the beach or river, regardless of their age, shape or size. Ageing bodies are considered a badge of honour, rather than something to hide.

Navigating steep hills and cobbled streets

None of the elderly villagers I met used walking sticks or aids. That could be partly because constantly climbing steep cobbled streets and stone steps improves core strength and balance.

Indeed, it is not difficult to keep physically active in a Ligurian village, most of which were built centuries ago on precipitous slopes to protect against invaders. Apart from one main road, built in the 1960s, every street in our village is steep, cobbled and too narrow for cars. Most villagers have no option but to walk up and down daily to get everything they need.

In my first few days in Liguria, I struggled for breath as I walked up the steep paths at more than 1,500ft above sea level, while my neighbours in their 80s waited for me to catch up. However, within two weeks I found myself striding up the uneven cobbles carrying a heavy bag of fresh vegetables from the village shop without pausing.

Unlike in the UK, where I have to push myself to take walks or go for a run, I didn’t do any formal exercise in Italy, except for adopting the local tradition of taking a daily dip in the river to cool off. Yet, on average, I racked up 8,000 steps walking around the house and village each day (2,000 more than I would usually manage at home), and climbed the equivalent of 40 flights of stairs.

“Keeping active by walking, climbing stairs or gardening helps build and maintain strength – it’s much better for you than living a sedentary lifestyle and doing a Pilates class once a week,” notes Dr Weinstein. “We need to keep consistently active and strong in our 60s and 70s to reduce our risk of falls as we go into our 80s and 90s.”

Eating simple, seasonal food

I was also struck by how much simpler and less processed the food is here in comparison to the British diet. Back home I often grab an ultra-processed supermarket meal deal for lunch. In Liguria, you can pick up a slice of home-made torta verde – a delicious pastry filled with rice, seasonal vegetables, egg and parmesan – for just €2 (£1.70). Reducing ultra-processed foods in your diet is key to healthy ageing and weight control, advises Dr Weinstein. “When you eat real, fresh food which contains fibre, you feel much fuller so you eat less.”

The traditional Ligurian diet is built around home-grown vegetables, olive oil, pulses and foraged ingredients, with meat like rabbit and wild boar eaten more rarely. It’s a diet that stems from rural poverty in a rugged landscape, where crops and livestock are hard to farm. Even snails (lumache) are a traditional source of protein here.

It was impossible to fully replicate the traditional diet in just a month, though. Many locals grow all the vegetables they need in meticulously maintained allotments, whereas we could only buy what was available in the village shop. Plus, with a six-year-old who is unenthusiastic about cured wild boar, our family meals consisted of far more pasta and pizza than is traditional.

Still, even the pizza is freshly handmade with local ingredients. We swapped butter for olive oil, gathered blackberries and ate sun-warmed figs from the tree. Here, a simple plate of spaghetti with fresh tomatoes, trombette (curved, pale courgettes) and olive oil is delicious and nutritious. In the UK it would taste bland, as our supermarket produce is so often shipped in chilled containers or artificially forced to ripen, reducing its nutritional value.