ROME — Rosella Mercuri expertly rolls out pasta dough, over and over again, until it is so thin you can see through it.

"I do everything myself," says the 68-year-old Italian. "Always have."

She is giving a cooking class called "Making pasta with grandma," which attracts tourists who want to learn from "Nonna Rosi" in Rome.

The lifestyle of Italian grandmothers is having a moment.

On social networks such as Instagram and TikTok, the term "Nonna Maxxing," also written as "Nonnamaxxing," is trending.

It refers to the idea of shaping one's own life as closely as possible to that of an Italian grandmother, or nonna.

Young women in particular are posting on the topic. One user writes: "forget hot girl summer, I want happy italian nonna summer."

Why is it suddenly cool to live like a senior?

Friederike Herrmann, a professor of journalism and communication studies at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, says: "I would initially interpret 'Nonna Maxxing' as a counter-concept to the ideas of self-optimization and visibility that are conveyed particularly on social media."

However, she notes that the trend could also be understood as a pattern familiar across generations. "The longing for a simple and unalienated life, as an alternative to capitalism and a performance-driven society."

The notion of 'la dolce vita' misses the mark

Yet the romantic notion of la dolce vita often bears little resemblance to reality.

The life of Mercuri, like that of many other women of her generation, was and is anything but relaxed.

Simply doing nothing was never an option for her: she was already working as a harvest helper as a teenager, picking grapes, peaches and olives.

After that she got a job in a fruit shop, then in a mushroom trading business.

She moved from job to job. Working hours often exceeded 12 hours a day. "I've done a load of jobs, worked very hard," Mercuri says. "But it didn't wear me out."

Mercuri keeps herself busy. "I do all sorts of things," she says, adding that she likes being around people. That is why, even now at 68, she still stands in the kitchen and gets to work - whether at home or with tourists at the Colleggio Bistro.

Mercuri can confirm the supposed serenity of Italian grandmothers. "Experience counts for a lot," she states. In the past, she worried too much, was less daring and kept everything bottled up inside, she says.

"Today I say what I think," she adds. You have to talk through what is on your mind and she considers age an advantage."

"In the old days, you were never alone"

Mercuri is therefore pleased about the trend: Young people should feel free to live a little more like a nonna, and put their phones down more often.

"These days everyone just chats online all the time. I can't be doing that. I want to see people and hear their voices," she notes.

In the old days, in Rosi's village, you only had to step outside the door and friends would be there. "Everything was much more close-knit," she says.

In the city, it is harder. Even so, Rosi reaches out to people. "Everyone in my apartment building knows me," she adds.

Mercuri's advice for young people is to "basically learn everything from your grandmother, because in life you never know whether you'll have work or not, whether you'll earn money or not."

She says she had learned from an early age to find something useful in everything. "I never throw anything away."

Surplus fruit becomes jam, aubergines that are no longer quite so crisp are breaded and fried, and leftover carrots go into a broth, she says.

For Mercuri, this way of thinking and living grew out of necessity: "If you can do everything yourself, even a small job with low pay is enough."

The 'granny' trend: emancipated or backward?

Herrmann believes this aspect is lost on the young women who seek to emulate the nonna's way of life.

"From a feminist perspective, one must object that once again the work of women remains invisible and not perceived as work. Housework, cooking and care were and are, for many women, not relaxing hobbies but unpaid and hard work. Economic dependence and lack of legal rights disappear from this picture," she says.

What bothers her is that "this trend apparently appeals mainly to young women and connects to a very traditional image of femininity whose problematic aspects are being ignored."

Mercuri says that she had learned to be able to do everything herself precisely in order to preserve her independence.

For her, her lifestyle is of course not a trend. But she is content.

"I wouldn't change a thing."

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