Inside Sardinia's Blue Zone with the Ford Explorer In search of the secret to longevity
It only takes a few bends behind the wheel of a Ford Explorer to realize that time moves differently in Ogliastra. Roads wind through towering rock faces, forests swallow every sound, and the wind becomes the only constant soundtrack. Here, nature sets the pace of everyday life, and rather than trying to control it, people have learned to live alongside it. Perhaps this is why this corner of Sardinia has become one of the world's five Blue Zones, the regions where reaching the age of one hundred is almost the norm. For decades, researchers and scientists have searched for the formula behind this phenomenon, yet the answer seems to lie in the simplest things: a close-knit community, daily movement, an honest, uncomplicated diet, and a bond with the land that has never been broken.
Telling this story takes more than statistics or scientific studies. It requires driving through these landscapes, stopping in the inland villages, listening to the people who call them home, and embracing a pace of life that feels worlds away from the rhythm of modern cities. That's the idea behind The Island of Centenarians: In Search of the Secret Formula for Longevity, the documentary report created by Ford in collaboration with Progetto Happiness. Rather than chasing a definitive answer, the journey offers a closer look at a way of life where time is not something to optimize, but something to experience.
Along the way, the Ford Explorer becomes more than just a means of transport—it is a tool for exploring a landscape as vast as it is fragile. Its fully electric powertrain makes it possible to cover hundreds of kilometres between the coast and the mountains with a lighter environmental footprint and, above all, without disturbing the silence that defines so much of the island's identity. Because in Sardinia, the journey is never just about reaching a destination. It's the first step towards understanding a place that has spent centuries living by its own rhythm.