The invitation had come from director Pietro Mereu, president of the cultural association Mater Dea, and maestro Oliviero Toscani (80 years old at the end of the summer of 2022) did not need to be asked twice and rushed to Ogliastra to photograph the fantastic centenarians and the indomitable centenarians of the Sardinian Blue Zone. A long photographic set, from Sunday 4 to Thursday 8 September 2022, which had kept him busy house by house in the municipalities of Arzana, Baunei, Perdasdefogu, Villagrande, Talana and Urzulei.
"One hundred, one hundred years! A mirage, which however, even though it is everyone's dream to get there, also creates a certain fear", confessed the famous photographer.
"Centenarians inspire a sense of calm in me, perhaps because they show that they do not want to get more from life than what they have already had. Strangely, I find that they resemble each other, they give me the impression of belonging to a community of extraterrestrials, they have a mixed air of past and future. They are certainly very fascinating human beings." The photos were then printed in giant format and placed in the various municipalities involved.
Director Pietro Mereu recalls today: «I met Oliviero at the editorial office of Chiambretti's "Markette" in 2004. For years we exchanged Christmas greetings. Then when I decided to do a project on centenarians I proposed it to him and he came with great generosity. I was struck by what he said about these old people: "They are people who have already seen the future". His great personality and experience will be missed, I will never thank him enough».
Francis Abbot