There’s something about Italian women of a certain age. They’re incredibly confident – about everything. And, surprisingly, they’re rarely wrong – about anything.

When you’re new in town, the nonne are first to notice. And if you’re up for a chat (that is if you’re willing to offer up details about who you are and what you’re up to), they’re happy to engage.

At the beach, every Italian nonna wears a bikini. That’s not an exaggeration. No matter their size, shape or age, Italian women don’t wear one-piece swimmers. As they stand together in knee-deep water, catching up on local news, the nonne are not the least bit self-conscious about their bodies. It’s brilliant.

One day as we picked our way through rocks towards the water’s edge, a group of women suddenly abandoned their chat and hurried towards us. ‘This way. Come this way,’ they called, arms and other bits waving. ‘This is the best path. You have the wrong shoes. They have the wrong shoes. See these? You need these.’

Further along the beach two women were dancing. One showed the other a series of steps then, making their own music – and our day – they practised and laughed until they had it right.

Sometimes, of course, confidence can be misplaced. A woman insisted to a young traveller that if she was going to the train station she was on the wrong bus. When other passengers disagreed and an argument ensued, the woman blamed the bewildered young visitor for asking the question in the first place.

At a village church charity shop two lovely ladies couldn’t agree on whether I should have a bag for my item. ‘Do you want a bag? No, thanks. Yes, you do. You need a bag. She doesn’t want a bag. She should have a bag. Well, don’t give her that one, that’s a good bag’. They argued for so long I took a seat to wait it out (and eventually left with a scrunched-up, old paper bag from the local pharmacy).

Older Italian women seem to have little regard for what others think; for better or for worse, they’re happy just being who they are. And what an achievement that is.

One morning we were at the beach early, before the sun was hot enough to blaze. A very old woman, stooped low and leaning on a stick, had perched herself on a rock wall to dip her feet in the cool sea water. With eyes closed and face tilted as best she could towards the sun, that old woman looked as happy that morning as she might ever have been in her life.

So if self-confidence means not always being bound by the expectations of others, and leads us to find real contentment within ourselves, really what more could we ask? It sounds, to us, like the very definition of a life well lived.