Irene Forte on the Art of Living Well

"Sicily isn't just where we source ingredients. It's very much the soul of my brand." For Irene Forte, the island shapes everything — her skincare line, her approach to wellbeing, and her own sense of what it means to live well. As Wellness Consultant for Rocco Forte Hotels and founder of Irene Forte Skincare, she belongs to a new generation of wellness leaders rethinking longevity, connecting the wisdom of those who have always lived well with the insight of modern science. Verdura Resort is where that thinking finds a natural home, a place that has long expressed the inherent ease of Mediterranean life. Set across 230 hectares of unspoilt southern-Sicilian coastline, with olive groves, citrus orchards and almost two kilometres of private shore, the resort is a contemporary expression of the island's abundance.

It was here, too, that Irene's love of wellbeing first took hold, during a year she spent working at the resort in her early twenties. With no car and quiet evenings to fill, she taught herself the craft of skincare, experimenting with the oils and products available in the spa. Sicily has been central to her life and work ever since: it is where she grows the ingredients for her award-winning eponymous skincare range, and where, in the hilltop town of Caltabellotta, she married and became an honorary citizen.

High in the Sicani Mountains, just a 20-minute drive from the resort, Caltabellotta is the kind of place the modern world seems to have passed by. Clusters of stone houses seemingly climb the hillside beneath a medieval castle, the air is clean and cool, and the pace of the day is leisurely. For all its sleepiness, this town of around three thousand holds an extraordinary secret – many of its residents live well into their nineties, and a remarkable number reach one hundred.

So when researchers confirmed what locals had always suspected — that Caltabellotta is an emerging Blue Zone — Irene was perfectly positioned to help translate the discovery into something guests could experience. The recognition followed nearly two decades of research across Sicily by Professor Gianni Pes, who first identified the original Blue Zone in Sardinia, and Professor Calogero Caruso, one of Italy's leading biogerontologists. Their study of Caltabellotta was assisted by the team at Verdura Resort, helping the researchers gain access to the town's historic civil records — the births, marriages and deaths that allowed the pattern of long life to be traced back over a century. For Irene, whose ties to the town are long held, it was a chance to support work close to her heart.

"Being part of this research and creating a longevity experience in the land and culture I love is incredibly meaningful," she says. The science, for her, simply caught up with instinct. "It confirms what we've always felt in our bones. This place has something special."

It was only natural, then, that the same wisdom should find its way back to Verdura Resort. The town's example is now the inspiration behind the Longevity Programme at the Irene Forte Spa, built on the same marriage of nature and science as her skincare. It pairs proper diagnostics with the gentler arts of good living — nourishing food, movement, restorative treatments — complete with a guided trek through the Sicani Mountains, and finishing with a longevity lunch of honest, local ingredients.

The programme is an immersion, but its real gift is what guests take home: the sense that living well is something you can carry into ordinary life. It is a philosophy Irene lives by, too. For all the science behind her work, her own approach is refreshingly unfussy, a matter of pleasure and connection more than rules. She protects her sleep, nine hours is her ideal, walks wherever she can, and eats the Mediterranean way — plenty of vegetables, good quality oil, enjoying whatever is in season — with room for a slice of cake when temptation calls.

Carving out time for friends and loved ones is equally essential: "Family is very important. We have Sunday lunch, probably all of us, every other week." Weekends are kept for her two young children, for doing something together and enjoying each other’s company. 

For Irene, the secret is simplicity. It is one of the principles behind her skincare – aptly described as a Mediterranean diet for the skin – where ingredients and steps are few, but effective. "I'm a strong believer in less is more," she says. "I don't believe in using really overly harsh ingredients." Most people, she has found, ask too much of their skin, wearing away the very barrier that keeps it healthy in search of a faster result. 

Despite all her expertise, Irene's advice in the end is refreshingly within reach. "You need to move. You need to build muscle mass. You need to eat well," she says. "It doesn't need to be complicated. It needs to be balanced." It is the same lesson the residents of Caltabellotta have been teaching and passing down for generations, high in the hills above Verdura Resort, where people have lived long and well, and enjoyed every part of it.

This September, Irene brings her unique approach to longevity to Alma by Aníma, an intimate three-day wellbeing festival at Verdura Resort. Alongside a select group of global leaders in wellness, nutrition, and fitness, she will share the habits and thinking behind a life well lived, in a setting designed to leave guests feeling more connected; to themselves, to one another, and to the earth. 

Discover the Longevity Programme and the island that inspired it at Verdura Resort, or hear from Irene Forte in person at Alma by Aníma, 17–20 September 2026.