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Meet the 94-year-old woman who has become a "tourist attraction"

2025-09-18 09:21:00, Kuriozitete CNA

In Scanno, a medieval village deep in the wild mountains of the Abruzzo region of central Italy, a woman dresses as if time has never moved forward.

At 94 years old, Margherita Ciarletta, smart, fiercely independent and careful about her privacy, is the last person to wear Scanno's centuries-old traditional clothing every day.

Tourists strolling the cobblestone streets don't come here just for the mountain views or ornate churches. They come looking for "Nonna Margherita" or as the locals call her, "L'Ultima Regina," the Last Queen.

Often, they wander around the village knocking on doors until they finally find her and pose for selfies with her. However, Ciarletta resists the attention. She is not a superstar, she insists. She is just a normal grandmother who is proud of her rural roots.

Ciarletta has been wearing the same style of dark wool dress with long black sleeves and a cotton headband since she was 18, she says. "I've always loved this dress, I'm proud to wear it," she tells CNN.

For centuries, this has been one of two outfits worn by the women of Scanno. One, the drab, everyday outfit for fieldwork and housework that Ciarletta wears today. The other, a more elaborate, embroidered costume with a richly decorated bodice and hat, reflecting social status, worn on Sundays to church, as well as during religious holidays.

Some local women still wear the ornate clothes during parades and beauty pageants. Only Ciarletta wears the same work clothes of her ancestors, day after day. She sticks to the traditional everyday attire, even on Sundays, alternating several versions each week - some black, others dark blue with white.

Meet the 94-year-old woman who has become a "tourist attraction"

"This was, and still is, my usual everyday outfit," says Ciarletta.

"My husband never liked it, but that didn't stop me from wearing it every day, both while working in the fields and during holidays," she says.

'I do everything myself'

After her two sisters, who also dressed traditionally, recently passed away, Ciarletta became the last woman in Scanno still living in traditional clothing. News of her unique appearance quickly spread by word of mouth beyond the village, eventually making its way onto social media.

Local officials are now lobbying to have the costumes recognized by UNESCO as examples of intangible cultural heritage.

Ciarletta was born in Scanno and never left. She has lived in the same stone house since 1950 and, despite her advanced age, continues to manage her daily routine without assistance, only occasionally needing a walking stick.

“I do everything myself,” she says. “In the morning I do all the housework, clean the garden, cook, and go for a short walk. I spend time and talk with friends, neighbors, and family. Sometimes I go for a walk in the fields above the village.”

However, she has given up her old daily routine of going to the local bar for a morning espresso.

When her grandchildren make regular visits, she says she enjoys making handmade sfoglia and gnocchi with turnip leaves, a local specialty in Abruzzo, which is known for its cuisine. In return, they help ward off uninvited tourists.

“They are wonderful, they take care of me all the time. I am very lucky to have them,” she adds. Becoming a tourist attraction doesn’t always appeal to her. Ciarletta has turned away TV crews and, while she welcomes most visitors and is relaxed when photographed for Instagram, she used to follow day tourists who came through her open door.

Her voice is clear, her eyes sharp, her sentences short. Ciarletta speaks in standard Italian rather than the dialect that some elderly locals use to ward off foreigners. She is approachable, but on her own terms.

"Since I'm the last one wearing this costume, people come looking for a chance to take a picture with me," she says. "But sometimes there are too many of these tourists and it can be annoying."

Ciarletta has seen great changes over the years. For centuries, Scanno was prosperous, with wealthy farming families competing to build lavish palaces, churches and fountains. Its narrow streets are a maze of Baroque, Romanesque and Gothic palaces alongside simple dwellings that resemble something out of a nativity scene.

But depopulation has emptied the town. From more than 4,000 residents in the 1920s, only about 1,600 remain today. Families fled to the cities and abroad - many of them to the United States - in search of work and a better life.

'I am happy with my life'

Meet the 94-year-old woman who has become a "tourist attraction"

She says the life she experienced in her youth is long gone. Back then, Ciarletta says she spent her days in the pastures high above Scanno, tending to sheep, gathering firewood, planting seeds, tending to crops and harvesting.

“We used to work hard, now that work is over. It was a hard life, but we were always together,” she says. The deep sense of community and deep-rooted neighborhood ties are now gone.

"I miss some lost traditions, I miss my husband who died, and I miss the time when there were more people and neighbors and we always ate together," she says. "I was never alone. Today I am sometimes alone."

Despite the loss of family, friends and a way of life, Ciarletta says she is neither nostalgic nor sad about the passing of time. She enjoys the modern conveniences and more comfortable life that progress has brought her.

“I worked in the fields all my life until I was 70, also taking care of the animals on my family’s farm. It was a physically demanding job,” she says. “The lifestyle I have now is much better than it was before. I am better today than I was yesterday; I have time for myself and I relax. I have come to discover and appreciate what free time is.”

"I have a lot of free time, I don't feel tired, I don't have physical difficulties like before. I like being a grandmother, I'm happy with my life."

Ciarletta has only been outside her village a few times in her life for special occasions, and never abroad.

As expected, she's not planning any trips anytime soon. Tourism has simply never been her favorite thing./ CNA