Nonnamaxxing: Do Italian Grandmothers Hold the Secret to a Long and Happy Life?

Gen Z are turning to nonnas for inspiration on how to live to be 100. Will donning a flowery dress and making their own pasta sauce do the trick?

Name: Nonnamaxxing.

Age: 70 to 100, and beyond.

Appearance: Elderly, lively, Italian.

Like an archetypal Italian grandmother? Yes, but doing it to the max.

And how would you go about that? By walking everywhere, cooking for others, spending time with family and getting all up in everyone’s business.

I see. Why would you go about that? To live for ever.

You mean being a nonna is the secret to immortality? Maybe, if you optimise it hard enough.

Is this not simply one more aspect of the current ridiculous appetite for everything-maxxing? Well, yes, of course it is. But there may be some solid practical reasoning behind this particular version.

And what is that reasoning? Italy in general (and Sardinia in particular) is considered a Blue Zone: one of those places on Earth where people live a lot longer than the rest of us, many of them well past 100.