A year ago, with her usual irony and sweetness, Luisa Mercalli said: «Let's hope that the Lord will let us celebrate 110 too». And today, impeccable as ever, with a drop of Chanel N°5, pink lipstick and shiny nails, the oldest woman in Sardinia really blows out 110 candles . It happens in the RSA of Su Planu, in Cagliari, where she has been living for some time, but the spirit is the same as always: elegant, brilliant and with a memory that spans over a century of history.
In the large hall of the facility everything is ready for the party: colored balloons, flowers and a big cake, just the way she likes it. Next to her, her daughters Angela and Myriam Quaquero, her granddaughters, her friends and friends of the community. "She has never followed any particular diets, she hates fruit and vegetables. She is certainly not an example of prevention" joke her daughters, who know her well.
Born on February 17, 1915 in Carloforte, Luisetta has always been an independent woman with clear ideas. She preferred books, reading, theater and singing to cooking : "She is a soprano with a splendid voice," says Angela. At 13 she left the island of Carloforte to study in Cagliari and at 16 she already had her diploma in her pocket. She began teaching at a very young age and never stopped until she retired at 62, with 46 years of service.
But her life was not just school and family. She lived through the Second World War, experienced the bombings on Carloforte in 1943, and provided assistance to the wounded at the hospital in Iglesias. She overcame two pandemics: the Spanish flu of 1918, which almost hit her as a child, and Covid in 2020, which she faced with the same strength as always .
Today Luisa celebrates an extraordinary milestone, with the clarity of someone who has seen the world change before her eyes, but without ever losing her smile and the desire to look to the future: "until ten years ago I went to Carloforte every summer," she said with a bit of nostalgia.
And perhaps the secret of longevity is precisely this: living lightly, without too many rules, but with an infinite desire to be there.
