National Geographic researchers believe they may have identified a new blue zone in Bolotana, a small village on the Italian island of Sardinia. Blue zones are geographic regions where residents show unusually high longevity and survival into old age.

A 2024 snapshot found that 10 of Bolotana’s 2,262 residents were at least 100 years old, according to National Geographic. That rate was roughly 10 times the Sardinian average and 11 times the U.S. average.

A research team that included Dan Buettner investigated the village’s exceptional lifespan. Buettner is a National Geographic Fellow and founder of Blue Zones, a company focused on longevity, and the team’s findings were published in Frontiers in Aging.

Buettner highlighted three patterns among Bolotana’s long lived residents: close friendships, shared household responsibilities and movement built naturally into everyday life. The study did not establish that these habits directly cause longevity.

Researchers had access to extensive records while examining the community. Buettner said the international team studied birth, death and baptismal records, describing the collection as possibly the world’s richest and most complete data on centenarians.

The village’s strongest longevity advantage appeared among women. Bolotana’s women ranked second only to Hong Kong for life expectancy at age 70 and for survival from age 70 to 100.

The original Sardinian blue zone was identified in the late 1990s and formally described in research published around 2000. Located in a mountainous region roughly 68 miles from Bolotana, that area is known for unusually strong male longevity, according to Buettner.

Bolotana remains partly pastoral, but it is also an agricultural community. Buettner suggested that men may spend more time at home and contribute more to household responsibilities, potentially easing the burden carried by women.

"Here, men are participating more, and that could explain why women are doing better."

Social connection may also be important, although the study did not establish a causal relationship. Buettner said women gather at the library, bake bread and make sweets together, attend church and maintain a more socially connected society than women in other blue zones.

Bolotana also has a strong Catholic tradition, as do many parts of Italy. Buettner said church attendance can offer faith, social contact and a sense of belonging for residents.

"It’s a sense of community, but it's also people proactively understanding that sitting down with a friend and talking about your troubles and your day with somebody who cares about you is a much more powerful drug than a pharmaceutical, " Buettner said. He called Bolotana a strong example of a pattern repeatedly seen among humans.

Traditional food in Bolotana is largely plant based, emphasizing beans, vegetables, wheat, olives and olive oil, with some cheese and meat. "About 90% of a centenarian's diet has been all plant-based," Buettner said.

A typical breakfast might include bread or cheese with local olives and coffee. Lunch is the largest meal, begins in the early afternoon and is almost always minestrone made with locally grown seasonal vegetables and plenty of beans.

"Beans are the cornerstone of the longevity diet here," Buettner said. Traditional varieties include garbanzo beans, lentils, pinto beans and cannellini beans, while residents historically ate meat about five times per month, usually during celebrations.

Cooking traditions also differ from those of the Sardinian highlands. Buettner said highland residents traditionally cooked with lard, while people in Bolotana use olive oil from ancient trees that contains unusually high levels of odd chain fatty acids.

Researchers are studying whether those fatty acids could be relevant to longevity. The evidence presented did not establish that the oil causes residents to live longer.

Bolotana’s residents are not deliberately chasing longer lives, according to Buettner, and the region places little emphasis on gym culture or biohacking. "They’re not chasing longevity," he added. "It is the product of their environment."

Steep streets and limited driving within the village encourage residents to walk to shops, cafés, workplaces and friends’ homes. Buettner described this unconscious walking as more important for longevity than scheduled gym visits.

He said residents of walkable American communities have a life expectancy advantage of between three and five years compared with people in less walkable areas. Bolotana, he argued, shows how surroundings can encourage regular movement without adding another formal obligation to daily life.

"If we want a healthier America , we have to start thinking about shaping our neighborhoods and our cities so people can unconsciously move and not rely on heaping another obligation on their busy lives to remember to go to the gym," Buettner said. He added that many elements associated with Bolotana’s longevity are also pleasant and make life’s journey enjoyable.