"No dying allowed': elderly in Italian medieval village ordered to defy death

Telegraph - The Grim Reaper has got his work cut out in Sellia in southern Italy, thanks to a decree ordering the village's elderly and dwindling population to stay in good shape.

There are more stray cats and dogs than people on the winding streets of this Calabrian hillside community, where over half of the houses lie empty. But there's a queue of elderly locals outside the new medical centre.

"Human life is naturally valuable, but here it has a social value as well because every person who dies takes us a step closer to the village no longer existing," Mayor Davide Zicchinella told news agency AFP.

Mass emigration in the 1920s and 1960s saw younger generations head to wealthier northern Italy and Europe for work, leaving nearly two-thirds of the population aged over 60.

And with the remaining residents dying of old age, the population has dropped in the last 15 years from 1,000 inhabitants to just over 500 - spurring Zicchinella in August to order the elderly to undergo regular tests to help them stave off the inevitable.

The appointments, which also include eye tests and orthopaedic care, are subsidised for most patients and free for those unable to pay. The mayor brought in a new tax with the health care decree, of 30 euros a year. Those who can prove they have gone for a check-up are exempt from the tax, while those who do not go have to pay 30 euros.