The winner of both of them enters the Guinness Book of Records

Two Italian towns compete for 'largest number of centenarians'

• 100-year-olds preparing traditional Italian dishes.

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• Birdsdefugu is seeking to enter the "encyclopedia" in the hope of improving its collapsed economy.

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• The Meles family café is the meeting place of the people in the town.

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• Most of the young people left the town in search of a livelihood.

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On one of the mountain trails on the Italian island of Sardinia, a large sign can be seen on a winding road across from an abandoned stadium, welcoming visitors to Berdsdivogo, a candidate for the title of "World Record of Centenarians".

Black and white portraits of local residents, who have reached the age of 100, overlook a main street, near Longevity Square.

The isolated town, best known as a military base and for decades a staging post for economic opportunities and long-range missiles, is trying to position itself as the world capital of long life and longevity.

Byrdsdefgogo, like many Italian towns and cities, has regressed due to job losses, low birth rates and the emigration of young people.

The town seeks to enter the Guinness Book of Records, as it is the town with the "largest group of people over 100 years old".

There are currently seven of them, out of about 1,780 people.

The town officials hope that this record will contribute to stimulating the deteriorating economy.

Tourism boom

The hope is that the arrival of foreigners who “hate death and want to know the secrets of survival” will fuel the tourism boom, or that genetics researchers and enthusiasts of studying the local population will invest in modern facilities, perhaps even improving spotty phone service by laying fibre-optic cables. .

But there Selo, a smaller town in the heart of the Italian island, threatens Birdsdefgo's plans by competing for the title of "the largest gathering of people over 100".

"They don't have the right to talk about the record," said Salvatore Mora, 63, a local engineer and politician who submitted Birdsdefugu's application to Guinness. Because Selo had a population of less than 1,000, he said, it did not meet Guinness requirements for ranking. She left the race, adding, "It's a matter of calculations."

Giacomo Mammelli, an 81-year-old author, hopes the town's new situation will lead to publicity for a literary festival he is running.

Mora and Mamili offer different explanations for the longevity of the two towns' inhabitants.

They pointed to the many vegetable gardens, which contained large zucchini;

They talked about the local potato bread, which they assert had been studied by geneticists;

Who also studied samples from the digestive system of the population, and the liquid cheese that the locals eat to relieve stomach pain.

"This is a natural sedative," Mamilly said, holding a bowl of it.

The two men stopped at a bar owned by the Melles family, which in 2014 won the Guinness World Record for the highest collective lifespan for more than 800 years for nine surviving siblings.

The economic recovery has already begun, Mora said, with a centenarian-inspired wine brand and a new venture promoting local honey that is "sweetened with the air that centenarians breathe."

As they walked, Mora and Mamili visited some of the old people in town.

Mora pointed to the benefits of traditional vegetable soup, fresh mountain air, hummus, and a simple lifestyle, all of which have contributed to the longevity of many in the region.

Dolvo Meles, 99, the surviving member of the record-breaking sibling, still keeps the rosary in the pocket of his sports jacket. The important thing, he said, is "not to be preoccupied with the problems of the world."

Discount Claims

The dean of centenarians in Perddefgo, 104-year-old Antonio Brundo, whose father lived to the age of 103, spoke earnestly of "perseverance through suffering".

"Sedentary work is the most important thing in life," he said, looking suspiciously at the pile of local newspapers covering the neighboring town of Selo's "claims" that it had the largest number of over 100.

On the other hand, the few young men left in the town were less eager to get the "happiest title", at the level of the land, as some of them say.

"Everything is old-fashioned," said Alessio Vittorio, 16, as he bought cigarettes one night.

His friend, Gabriel Pastello, 16, agreed, saying, "There's nothing going on here."

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Surviving siblings of the Meles family won in 2014 the Guinness record for the highest collective lifespan, for more than 800 years.

The isolated town of Perdsdivogo, best known as a military base, has for decades been a launching pad for economic opportunity and long-range missiles.

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