Domitys and the new philosophy that rejuvenates the elderly

Interview with Orietta Coppi, director of Residenza Domitys Quarto Verde in Bergamo a vertical holiday village for pensioners where you can both holiday and move in and live with all the security and comfort you could wish for.  

Elegant, with long impeccable blond hair and an exquisitely British upbringing, Orietta Coppi is the Director of Domitys Quarto Verde in Bergamo, one of the facilities of the most prestigious chain of luxury residences for pensioners in the world. A refined personality sharpened by ambition and hard work in the hôtellerie, she is the perfect director for this chain of top-notch residences for pensioners, which is succeeding all over Europe due to the tragic denatality afflicting the entire continent.

Dear Orietta Coppi, let’s start by talking about the most serious thing in life, i.e. the pleasures: toasting with Prosecco by the pool, taking a sauna and enjoying top-quality catering…. from a professional point of view, what is your experience in this field?

Ever since I was young, I have always been attracted to the world of top-quality hotels precisely because of the beautiful experiences this sector can offer people. In fact, I started working at a very young age in Stresa, a jewel of international tourism known for its prestigious five-star hotels overlooking Lake Maggiore. I then went to England to work for three years, where I was able to get to know and absorb the wonderful British culture and all its aspects related to good manners, etiquette, hospitality, and enjoying life’s pleasures in the most sophisticated way possible. After starting out as a management assistant at Accor and lastly as director of the Ibis Milano Centro in Milan, with 440 rooms, I was offered a job at Domitys, a beautiful residence where pensioners can enjoy life as if it were a holiday without giving up their privacy. I accepted immediately: working to give people the chance to enjoy life and be happy is wonderful.

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Fun and old age…thanks to the latest studies on epigenetics and endocrinology, it has been scientifically proven that happiness hormones, such as oxytocin and endorphins, have a miraculous effect on health, strengthening the immune system and extending life expectancy. Tell us about it…

At Domitys the residents, who are over 65 and self-sufficient, thanks to the activities organised by our team of around 20 people, are constantly stimulated by the possibility of being in a group and carrying out recreational activities, both inside the facility with events and moments of conviviality, and outside, with our cultural trips and the strong interaction with the area. This not only makes them cheerful and serene, but through socialisation and learning stimulates their neuroplasticity, preventing all the neurodegenerative diseases that afflict especially the elderly who spend so much time alone and get bored. In our facilities, residents stay an average of 7 years… whereas in normal medical homes for the elderly, the average stay does not exceed 2 years.

I have come to visit your residence, which is an elegant flat block where, in addition to the private apartments…. there are also communal areas where you can socialise with others, have fun and relax. Can I, who am 31 years old, also come and live here? What are the requirements?

[ laughing] to come and live in one of our flats you have to be of retirement age and, of course, you also have to be self-sufficient or slightly frail: we are not a home for the elderly with medical care. But if you decide to have your parents come and live here, you can visit them whenever you want and enjoy all the services Domitys provides with them, from the swimming pool to the restaurant.

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I’m very interested in that! My mum, now retired, is a brilliant ex-businesswoman with a more social life than me… if I wanted her to come and live in your block of flats, what would I have to do?

It is very easy: just give us a call and then visit us for coffee or lunch in our restaurant. After the visit, your mum can decide to take a holiday in one of our flats for 29 days, so she can get to know how the place works and make friends with the other residents and the animator here. We will then make a normal rental contract to give her a one, two or three-room, semi-furnished flat, and she can then move in. You will also be able to choose the services you prefer: from using the restaurant three times a day, to a hairdresser to a cleaning service in the flat, the pampering we offer is countless.

As a study by Credit Suisse reports, those in the third and fourth age group will double by 2050 and will be over 2 billion worldwide. Therefore, as I hide fewer and fewer children, the West is a sinking ship and in the future one of the dominant sectors will be services for retired people, the Silver Economy… tell us about it.

Yes, the ageing of the population is a major challenge that we will have to face for centuries to come… because we need to find accommodation for the over-65s that guarantees them freedom, privacy and sociability without locking them up in old people’s homes, which are often places where a person is segregated while waiting for death. At Domitys, on the other hand, life is celebrated. People really like this concept, in fact we are having immense success. French entrepreneur Jean-Marie Fournet, head of the Domitys network of homes for the elderly with more than 180 facilities in France and Belgium and more than 12,000 residents, with a turnover of around 400 million euros in 2020, is a visionary: back in 1998, the year the company was founded, he understood the urgency of creating these living spaces for healthy and self-sufficient over-65s who do not want to live alone but are still too healthy and energetic to live in a home for the elderly. The huge turnover that revolves around the empire of Domitys (management) and Aegide investment (real estate), whose majority shareholder is AG2R La Mondiale, a leading French group in the insurance market, show how happy people, and especially those in their 30s and 50s, are to have their parents move into their homes.

Tell us also about the interaction with the territory…

For us, a pivotal element in ensuring the satisfaction and happiness of our residents is the ability to relate to their surroundings. Thanks to Sergio Dominoni, who has previous experience in politics, is a member of Confindustria of Bergamo and a supporter of the socio-educational association Ragazzi on the Road, he is the head of territorial relations for Domitys Quarto Verde and is doing an excellent job. We have had the opportunity to host important personalities from both the entertainment world and the institutions at our facility, and our pensioners, as you have seen, are really very enthusiastic about this.

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What is the thing you like most about your work?

The fact that we are proof that cheerfulness and nice things are good for your health: our residents really seem to rejuvenate by being here. If you have parents of retirement age…come and visit us to believe!

Looking for a beautiful and elegant place for your elderly parents…?