And today we’re going to talk about a Mediterranean village that has captured the attention of longevity researchers: including me. As the decades click by, life becomes more dear with each passing day.

Acciaroli, Italy is a tiny seaside village, home to an unusually large number of people living into their 90s and even past 100 years old. Now what makes this so interesting is not just that they live a long time. It’s that many of them live well. They continue walking the village streets, tending gardens, and sharing meals and going to church with neighbors. No cataracts, cardiovascular profile of a 20 year old, no broken bones, great hormones, and no real signs of what we consider normal aging. So naturally scientists began asking: What are they doing differently?