Genesis

During a meeting of researchers contributing to the International Database of Longevity held in Montpellier in October 1999, the existence of an area of exceptional longevity was revealed in Sardinia by Dr G.M. Pes. The trustworthiness of the Sardinian data was immediately doubted raising the need to validate the age of the presumed centenarians. The results of the validation process started in January 2000 by M. Poulain and G.M. Pes were positive and beyond all expectations. 

In 2000, when validating the centenarians, it became clear that centenarians were not distributed randomly on the territory of Sardinia. A specific area of exceptional longevity and higher proportion of centenarians emerged in the most mountainous region of Sardinia. The first time that it was identified on a map, a blue marker was used and, since that time in March 2000, the term Blue Zone was used to name the longevity hot spot. The Blue Zone was born.