by Antonella Casaburi – “A lesson from the long-lived” is the book written by the psychologist Patrizia Del Verme. Research carried out in Cilento highlights that in this geographical area there are 30 centenarians for every one hundred thousand inhabitants, more than double that in the rest of Italy and Europe. Cilento could therefore be a candidate to enter the lists of "blue zones" (such as Ogliastra in Sardinia or the island of Icaria in Greece) where people live longer than average. The research, the subject of Patrizia Del Verme's book, investigates the reasons that can explain this presence in Cilento of such a high percentage of long-lived people. From the tests administered and the interviews carried out, a relationship emerged between longevity and personality traits, life goals, resilience and lifestyle. great attention was given to lifestyle and "Mediterranean diet”, an expression coined by Ancel Keys and understood in the broadest sense of “life model”, which also includes food but which is not limited to its consumption. Nutrition is certainly, in fact, one of the important elements of lifestyle precisely because it takes on values that go well beyond nourishment alone, it presents various dimensions of and gentle cosmetics psychological, affective, relational, social, cultural, religious, aesthetic, healing, refuge, and is an expression of the territory, its history and culture. With a holistic vision of man and particular attention to the impact that the psychic and social components have on his state of health and well-being, Patrizia Del Verme provides a clear description of the long-lived people of Cilento: the environment in which they live , the way we eat, sleep, behave, think, get emotional, relate to others, life goals, attitude towards food, time, others and existence.
I recommend reading “A lesson from the long-lived. Research on the elderly of Cilento", by Patrizia Del Verme, because this volume published by Franco Angeli editore is a scientific and accurate study, with a holistic approach, capable of photographing the lives of our elderly: what they eat, how they live, how they think.
Antonella Casaburi
