Among the seven countries and three continents examined in the Seven Countries Study (1958), a comparative study of dietary patterns, Ancel Keys chose Cilento as a privileged observatory for analysing the connection between food, lifestyle and the unusual concentration of centenarians that still exists there today.
In the Lands of the Mediterranean Diet, which welcomed him for forty years, he would soon come to understand that in order to Stay Well, one must Eat Well: a goal that can be achieved through the Mediterranean Way of life. As is clear not only to those who have read his 1975 book, How to Eat Well and Stay Well, the Mediterranean Way, but also to anyone who has experienced the atmosphere of this territory, the Mediterranean lifestyle has a genuine regenerative power for both people and the ecosystem.
It may sound like an abstract concept, but it is not. Today, by looking closely at the elements that make up what we like to call the longevity algorithm, it becomes clear that eating well and staying well also mean taking care of our planet.
The elements of the longevity algorithm can be seen in tangible form in the collective ecological awareness that has developed over centuries in Cilento; in urban and rural development policies centred on protecting resources and caring for the landscape; in regenerative agricultural practices rooted in millennia of tradition; in the enhancement of artistic and cultural heritage; and in a gastronomy of sustainability — seasonal and circular — of health — balanced and biodiverse — and of inclusion — multicultural and welcoming.
This gastronomic culture has crossed national borders, bringing some of the great icons of Made in Italy, pillars of Mediterranean gastronomy, to the world.
The practical dimension of this concept can also be seen in the daily work of people such as Mayor Stefano Pisani, who in Pollica drew inspiration from the Mediterranean Diet as both a lifestyle and a cultural heritage, transforming it into a genuine model of integral ecological development.
This is the Mediterranean Way: Eat Well, Stay Well, and Save the Planet!
Eat Well does not simply mean nourishing ourselves with high-quality food, paying attention to what we eat, tasting slowly, smelling and sharing. It also means discovering food’s history, origins and rituals.
And if, by eating well, we also benefit the territory, the environment, society and the economy, then food can help us live better as well. A healthy and sustainable lifestyle such as the Mediterranean Diet — a synthesis of biodiversity, protection and care — generates concentric waves of wellbeing and widespread prosperity that affect everything within and around us.
Centenarians — the true guardians of the Mediterranean Way — are living proof of this. Those who, like Ancel Keys, study the lifestyle rooted in the Lands of the Mediterranean Diet discover that, almost through a natural and spontaneous process, other elements of the longevity algorithm emerge: a mindset that values time, slowness, attention and awareness.
Today, these concepts come together in a single practice: mindfulness.
As highlighted by Patrizia Del Verme in her study published in the book A lezione dai longevi, which explores the multiple factors behind exceptional longevity, Cilento’s centenarians already display “a mindful attitude” that is “spontaneously put into practice”, thanks to their ability to “be present in the here and now and experience each moment of life with awareness and acceptance.”
Because it encompasses a combination of different factors, mindfulness comes naturally to centenarians but is more difficult for us to define. It can be understood as a form of mental training designed to cultivate awareness in everyday life.
It means focusing on the present, becoming conscious of our inner state and of what surrounds us, and directing our attention towards individual sensations, feelings or thoughts so that what happens around us does not trigger excessive reactions or emotional disruption.
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