People from all over the world have come to Switzerland for centuries in search of the fountain of youth. How did the small Alpine nation become a magnet for longevity seekers?
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I am an experienced video journalist passionate about making complex topics accessible and engaging through compelling multimedia storytelling. Focused on social and environmental issues, I produce various video formats on a wide range of topics, specialising in impactful explainer videos with motion graphics and stop-motion animation.
During my studies in cinema, English literature and journalism, I’ve gained experience in radio, television, and print across Switzerland. After working with the Locarno Film Festival’s image & sound team, I joined SWI swissinfo.ch in 2018 to produce local and international reportages.
I report on the Swiss pharmaceutical industry and healthcare topics such as access to medicine, biomedical innovation, and the impact of diseases like cancer.
I grew up just outside San Francisco and studied international affairs with a focus on development economics and healthcare policy. Prior to joining SWI swissinfo.ch in 2018, I was a freelance journalist and a researcher on business and human rights.
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Born in Italy and raised in Africa, I now call Switzerland home. I studied film directing at the Italian National Film School and worked as a documentary editor and director/producer in Berlin and Vienna. I specialise in crafting multimedia into engaging narratives.
Longevity is the latest trend to take over social media. Longevity start-ups are raising billions, biohackers are tracking every molecule in their bodies, and longevity clinics are popping up all over the world offering a host of promises.
But long before all of this, people looked to nature for rejuvenating cures. And no place embodied that hope more than Switzerland with its idyllic sceneries and fresh Alpine air. Even more, its thermal baths were explicitly advertised as rejuvenating cures. Did dipping in a pool to emerge younger – as in the “Fountain of Youth” painting by Lucas Cranach the Elder – really work?
“Der Jungbrunnen” by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1556, Gemäldegalerie Berlin
Public domain
Today people still flock to Switzerland in search of the secrets to live longer, healthier lives but not for the same reasons. How did the country become a longevity hot spot? And what does the future hold for it in the face of rapid advances in high-tech treatments and technologies promising to slow down ageing?
We set out on a journey across Switzerland to find out what happened to the country’s “rejuvenating” thermal waters, and how it has maintained its appeal with longevity seekers from all over the world.
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Healthcare innovation
Longevity clinics: modern-day snake oil or the key to healthy ageing?
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Scientists have yet to find the elixir of life but this hasn’t stopped longevity clinics from selling treatments, pills and gadgets that claim to slow ageing.
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