00:11: The heart of Sardinia – land of adventurers, land of bandits. In the 80s tours of the island proved popular, and sheep farmers were able to earn some extra income. Now that is the past. But the present is even more exciting, because villages like Tiana are home to some of the oldest people in the world. Among them is Antonio Todde. At 122, he is the world’s oldest man. This visit from Vienna is an exciting moment for the former sheep farmer. Daughter Laura and son Antonio proudly show us photos. They see every day with their father as a gift.

01:10: We’ve arrived on a good day. Antonio is in the mood for joking, and isn’t afraid to flirt with our production team. Senior Todde has done everything there is to do in life. His family tell all, including the secret to a long life, much of which sounds plausible.

01:37: Laura: Hard work and a healthy life. He worked with sheep all his life. During the winter he would spend six months with the animals in all manner of weather – that toughens you up. Discipline is important, prayer, friends and family. He isn’t interested in modern things.

01:59: Antonio Todde’s lifestyle is no special case. In fact, many Sardinians have an above-average immune system. This is particularly noticeable in later years. Yet the Sardinian lifestyle differs little from other Europeans. The mystery could be unlocked here in Tiana, in this centuries-old village. It has been found that its 1,200 inhabitants come from just 8 founding families – an ideal place for researching genetic predisposition to certain diseases. 90% of men and women in the village marry one another and have done for centuries.

02:58: In church records, the 28 surnames that exist in the village have been recorded for centuries. For 350 years every birth, death and marriage has been noted here. Inbreeding was not taboo – marriages between cousins was common.

03:24: A genetic gold mine has thus been preserved for centuries – and it is to be studied in this lab. In Alghero, north-western Sardinia, the Centre for Molecular Biology Research has been established. Here blood and plasma will be analysed. Genetic research requires places like Tiana. The biologists’ search for the genetic factors of a disease would be extremely difficult in a large city. The smaller the homogeneity of a population however, the easier the search becomes, as the gene pool is greatly reduced. Tiana becomes a model of the world. In Algero, scientists aiming to develop of gene therapy, a new form of preventative medicine.

04:06: Speaker 1 (In English): So I think that’s a very good model if you think in terms of an approach to this study of (indistinguishable). It’s very interesting because you can control much better factors, risk factors such as nutrition for example than if you study a big population in a big city, where everybody has a different life style or different diet.

04:36: For his research, Mario Perastout has become a vampire, as is jokingly said in the village. Most have given seven blood samples. His family discuss their discomfort with modern life. The faceless big cities crowd people together, say the family. Young people don’t know how older people used to live and in Sardinia, the land of the centenarians, old family habits are being called into question.

05:11: Speaker 2: Respect for the elderly has long gone. The values of the youth are very different: pleasure, information, media. The youth today is more prejudiced. I have a lot to say to them, but no one listens.

05:41: The harsh beauty of Sardinia. Here one can grow old. Stress-free life, rural lifestyle, the Sardinian cuisine.

05:58 And now the new fame of Sardinia. In the study of Sardinian genes, scientists want to prove that there are genes which protect people against environmental influences and that their immunological protection works better than in other humans. Even here some families grow old, while others die of infection. It’s exactly this puzzle that needs to be decrypted.

06:19: Speaker 1 (In English): In the future, a lot of different decisions will be based on the knowledge of our disposition to some disease or some behaviour. It’s not just disease, behaviour for example, or style of life, or whatever… So I don’t think this can be left without rules.

06:48: Antonio Todde may be blessed with these particularly resilient genes. He does not know anything about studying the Sardinian gene pool. He doesn’t give much thought to modernity anyhow – his life is that of his ancestors.

07:16: In Cagliari, the island’s capital, don’t have inhabitants Antonio Todde. He never came here. In the big city, he says, you no longer know what is good for you and what is not. In the volatile Cagliari, no one is interested in the secrets of the centenarians. It is only a matter of time until the traces of the village centenarians disappear for good.