I’d read about the Sardinian slow life, too: farm-to-table food, long walks and aperitivo. Being outdoors is part of the natural flow of life here, so our plans involved hikes through national parks, languid days on world-renowned beaches and al-fresco dinners in the mountains. We’d expected beautiful, we’d anticipated wholesome, we’d hoped for adventure. What we hadn’t bargained for, though, was how deeply notions of wellness are woven into life here: not as goals to be met, but as habits almost impossible to avoid.
Sardinia is one of the world’s five officially recognised Blue Zones, places where people live significantly longer and healthier lives than the average. The reasons are thought to be deceptively simple: daily movement, a diet rich in healthy fats, and an enduring respect for seasonal rhythms.
Cala GoloritzeHannah E Dace
There’s also the impact of community. We witnessed this in abundance across the island: elders strolling arm-in-arm along coastal paths, or families lingering over long lunches. “We love our aperitivo ritual, or sitting outside a café with a friend and an espresso,” explains Edoardo d’Aniello, 86, a resident of the La Maddelena archipelago in the north of Sardinia. He continues, “Italians have no problem invading one’s personal space – we’re proudly tactile. Connection is important.”
Edoardo’s wife, Mary Ward, 66, is British-born but has lived in Sardinia for the last 20 years. Over a spritz and salty crisps she tells us of her yoga classes “We leave the dock at 5.30am to get to Spargi, a nearby uninhabited island. We practice while the sun rises, swim in the sea and then return to the boat for coffee and croissants. It’s heavenly”. She’ll also get to most places on foot, and spoke of a friend in his seventies who “walks ten miles every single day to the connecting island of Caprera”.