Nonna-Maxxing: The Italian Grandma Habits That Can Save You From Burnout

"Nonna-what?"

Italian grandmothers have become the internet's newest slow-living icons. On TikTok and Instagram, the trend even has a name: nonna-maxxing – embracing grandma-style habits to restore balance and escape burnout. It's being hailed as a quiet cultural revolution.

When I ask my mom, a nonna of four, what she thinks about it, she gives me a puzzled look. I explain the trend.

"What's so special about that?" she says.

Maybe the fact that, for once, a social media craze has some science behind it.

Long before it became a social media aesthetic, Italian grandmothers were already practising the art of vita lenta (slow living).

The latest trend celebrating their way of life is called nonna-maxxing, and it's been featured in Vice, Forbes, The Guardian, and the BBC. In Italy, news outlet ANSA has reported on how Gen Z is looking to Italian grandmothers as the unlikely antidote to burnout, hustle culture, and performance anxiety.

There's something wonderfully ironic about this newfound global fascination. As the rest of the world discovers the pleasures of simmering tomato sauce, hanging laundry out to dry, tending a vegetable garden or lingering over conversations with neighbours, many Italians grew up thinking these were simply ordinary – perhaps even slightly boring – parts of everyday life.

For years, we have searched far and wide for the secret to happiness – Japan’s ikigai, Denmark’s hygge, Sweden’s lagom. Nonna-maxxing, instead, puts a spotlight on a blueprint for well-being that was hiding in plain sight. Maybe it was always just too close to see.

Forget meditation apps, sunrise yoga classes, wellness retreats, or step-by-step morning rituals. The Italian grandmother follows her own tried-and-true playbook for feeling good.

"My day starts with a cup of barley coffee and a few crisp rusks," says Imma, 78. "Then my husband and I go grocery shopping, and we always run into someone to chat with. When we get home, I cook. If it's sunny, we spend some time on the terrace. In the afternoon, if the grandchildren aren't around, we'll go for a walk or visit some friends."

For Imma, well-being means having something to do and someone to talk to.

Gen Z calls it slow living. Nonne just call it a full day.

Related story – The best wellness retreat in Italy

The phrase fuses nonna – the Italian word for grandmother – with maxxing, internet-speak for taking something to the max, turning it into a lifestyle. At its core, it means boosting your well-being by borrowing a few classic nonna habits.

It's no coincidence that the trend has taken off among a generation raised on algorithms, push notifications and the belief that every minute should be productive.

For many young people, the Italian grandmothers embody the opposite ethos: someone who cooks instead of ordering takeout, walks instead of rushing, and talks to people instead of staring at a screen.

A few hard facts feed the legend. Italy boasts two of the world’s famed Blue Zones – Sardinia and Sicily – where centenarians abound, and the Mediterranean diet is considered one of the healthiest and most studied eating patterns.

For outsiders, the link seems almost fated: maybe the secret to a long life is tucked away with those unassuming women in floral dresses and sensible shoes, silver hair perfectly coiffed.

Scroll through social media, and it’s easy to assume nonna-maxxing is just floral aprons, hand-rolled pasta, and balconies draped in geraniums. But look closer, and it’s not (just) about the aesthetic.

What seems captivating to younger generations is the Italian grandmother’s unhurried relationship with time.

Nonne don’t schedule their days to chase productivity. They don’t walk to rack up 10,000 steps. They don’t turn hobbies into side hustles, or chase the urge to optimise every free minute.

They cook, shop for groceries, pause to gossip with the neighbour, read the paper, and keep an eye on the grandkids.

These everyday rituals feel almost extraordinary now simply because we've forgotten how to value them.

As The Guardian put it, “If you’re Gen Z it really just means: stop looking at your phone”.

On TikTok, nonna-maxxing comes with a familiar visual language: grandmothers kneading dough, lounging on plastic chairs outside their front doors, or leaning over the balcony to see who's walking by. Their floral dresses, aprons, and house slippers have even become style inspirations.

But beyond the vibe, the real draw is the everyday rituals beneath the surface.

First is il dolce far niente: the sweetness of doing nothing. The quintessential Italian nonna spends plenty of time outdoors and permits herself to rest without feeling guilty.

She walks a lot. Not to close the rings on a fitness tracker, but to go to the market, stop by the pharmacy or visit a friend.

Then there’s the kitchen. She picks the best of what’s in season and cooks in abundance – because if someone stops in, there’s always room for another plate.

She invests in relationships, chatting with neighbours, greeting the greengrocer by name, weaving herself into the fabric of the neighbourhood.

And she doesn’t need a digital detox – she never handed her time over to social media in the first place.

A different sense of time. A less frenetic approach to work. An ease with boredom. Or just a life where not everything needs to be posted, photographed, or made to go viral.

The real story behind nonna-maxxing isn’t about our grandmothers at all, but about us, and our craving for a daily life that’s more real and less performative.

The nonne seem to watch the fuss with a mix of surprise and amusement.

"Someone filmed me hanging laundry on my balcony, and apparently a lot of people liked it," says Elena, 82, a retired maths teacher.

By "a lot," she means roughly 40,000 views on the Instagram Reel she unknowingly stars in.

For Elena, it was just laundry day. For the internet, it was a slow living manifesto.

If the Harvard Study of Adult Development is right – that nurturing relationships is key to a long and happy life – the classic Italian nonna is ahead of the curve.

Stereotypes paint her as the ultimate insider in her family, her apartment building, her neighbourhood, even her whole town. Naturally, this too has turned into a meme: the “nonna security cameras”, viral videos of old ladies perched at the window, missing nothing that happens on the street below.

The joke, however, points to something more meaningful.

Those videos capture a life anchored in community. Many older Italians stay deeply connected to those around them, still playing a vital part in family life while remaining active in the neighborhoods they’ve helped shape.

Between a stroll and a phone call, preparing lunch and attending Mass, a round of cards and overseeing the nipoti's homework, Italian grandmothers are rarely idle. They keep up with hobbies, friendships, and little routines, but also take on duties and responsibilities, large and small.

Psychologists call it purpose in life: holding onto a sense of purpose, even after retirement, is strongly tied to well-being and healthy ageing.

Franca – whose full name is Françoise – was born in Toulouse but has lived in Naples for the past 40 years. Between her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, friends and neighbours, she says she's never bored.

When I ask what she thinks of nonna-maxxing, she laughs.

“I don’t do what I did at thirty,” she says. “But I still do what I like every day. And I don’t feel old.”

In the end, that may be the lesson younger generations are really trying to borrow, not how to dress like an Italian grandmother, but how to build a life that remains full, connected and meaningful at every age.

Of all the ideas in Italian culture, none is as alluring – or as misunderstood – as il dolce far niente. For anyone raised in an era of nonstop productivity, it feels like the ultimate antidote to burnout.

Italian nonne practice it with unhurried wisdom. For them, dolce far niente could mean lingering over an aperitivo at the café, chatting with friends, spending the afternoon playing cards, sitting proudly with a fan in hand, tending the vegetable patch, or stretching out the hours with their grandchildren.

It’s perhaps the most enchanting piece of nonna-maxxing for anyone longing for a gentler way to live.

The fascination extends even to the way they get around. For Italian grandmothers, walking is the most natural way to move through both the city and the day. Science, it turns out, is on their side.

A Vanderbilt University Medical Centre study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that just 15 minutes of brisk walking a day can cut mortality risk by nearly 20 per cent.

“Walking offers a convenient, accessible and low-impact activity that individuals of all ages and fitness levels can use to improve general health,” says researcher Wei Zheng.

Italian grandmothers would probably put it more simply: "Let's walk, it's close, andiamo!"

Related story – The best walking routes in Italy

Nonna-maxxing isn’t some magic formula, but many of the habits it celebrates – walking, eating together, nurturing relationships, feeling part of a community – are the very ones science has linked for years to well-being and healthy aging.

So behind this latest social media trend, there’s actually something to praise.

And if we told the most “classic” nonne that their everyday routines had become a lifestyle trend? They’d probably give us the same look my mother gave me at the start of this story: "What's so special about that?"

Nonna-maxxing is a trend that encourages people to discover everyday habits traditionally associated with Italian grandmothers to improve their well-being. From home cooking to daily walks, from spending time with family to embracing il dolce far niente, the idea is to slow down and find a better balance in response to stress and burnout.

Publications including The Guardian, Vice and Newsweek have explored Gen Z’s growing fascination with the Italian grandmother lifestyle. Many young people see these habits as an alternative to hustle culture and the pressure to constantly optimise: stronger social connections, a Mediterranean diet, everyday movement and a deep sense of community.

Among the habits most often associated with Italian grandmothers are walking every day, following a Mediterranean diet rich in fresh ingredients, making time for family and friends, staying connected to the local community and allowing space for rest without guilt. Many of these practices are also linked by scientific research to improved physical and mental well-being.