San Quirico, the town of over-85s in the Sienese hills, is a place where you age better.

SAN QUIRICO D'ORCIA (SIENA) – There's no point looking. In this town of old people—the number of women and men over 85 has increased by 40% since 2002—there isn't even a "place for the elderly." There's no senior center, no retirement home. In Piazza Libertà, at 11 a.m., there are two elderly people sunbathing, as well as two mothers with four children. "A hospice for grandparents? Are we crazy?" Mayor Roberto Rappuoli almost gets angry. "We all know that a hospice is a disgrace. Some old people would die within two days if you took them there. The elderly are happy in their homes, surrounded by friends. The elderly need to work. Many have a vegetable garden and a chicken coop just outside the town. Those who don't have one come to the town hall and ask us." In the hills of Siena, one lives in a different Italy. Here, seniors aren't forced to live in a supermarket to stay warm or cool; they're not cooped up in suburban apartment buildings, staring out the windows of other residents. Retirement homes, here, aren't a "hope" but a danger to be avoided. In this town where seniors have no designated place, if you want to stay fit, you don't go to the gym; you can rent (for free) a vegetable garden under the walls or even a couple of the 250 municipal olive trees. "Seniors," says the mayor, "shouldn't go to the bar and be idle. With a vegetable garden and an olive tree, they have work to do all year round. They prune, sow, harvest, go to the olive press, and then they eat their salad dressed with their own oil and invite their children or friends over for dinner. They don't feel useless. And this, in our opinion, is the secret to living well, even in their later years."