Loneliness in a small tourist town in Romania: what happens to the locals after the tourists leave? “My friends kind of died”

A study from Romania shows that, “for a quarter of the elderly, social contact is almost non-existent: they talk to at most one person a month, sometimes even to no one”, shows a Snoop article focused on the community of Călimănești, Vâlcea county, where collective resignation and lack of initiatives stand in the way of social potential.

In Călimănești, Vâlcea, even if people recognize each other on the street, the sense of community is destroyed by mistrust and loneliness, which affects our mental and physical health.

“A lack of satisfying social connections increases the risk of heart disease by 29% and stroke by 32%. Loneliness is also associated with an increased risk of anxiety, depression and dementia,” says a Snoop article, citing a US study.

Tens of thousands of cars pass daily on the main street of Călimănești. It is part of DN7, which connects the capital of Romania with the west of the country. This is also where Rodica* walks, in the morning and at sunset.

She wears a satin headscarf in pastel colors. Don't pull the current. It's mid-autumn, the leaves are continuously falling. He takes small steps between them, not just because he can't do it any other way.

Where to hurry? There is no one at home. She alone makes her fire from the wood her son bought for her when he was in Romania. He has been abroad for many years. The two grandchildren do not visit her and rarely call her. “Neighbors are bad,” friends are nine miles and many years apart, she tells Snoop.

Rodica is Doru's neighbor. He's a bit younger than her, 78 years old, and he's not as lonely – he has a puppy and cats that he loves like his own children. It was the first day of the Olt Songs festival when they sat at the same table.

Doru was cheerful and applauding the marching band that passed by. “That's what I want them to sing at my funeral!” he said, then began to clap his hands. “Clap too!” he asked Rodica, but the woman didn't want to.

Unlike Doru, she does not cheer up easily. Loneliness got to his bones. After her husband died, she left the village where they lived together and ended up here, in the heart of Călimănești, where she didn't make any friends. He exchanges a few words with Doru, but he does not feel the relationship as a friendship.

On your own

Nae, a man who tried to raise sheep in the middle of the city, lives, eats and walks alone. He feels the main responsibility for the loneliness he has become accustomed to at the age of 67.

“I had women who wanted my best, but I didn't listen,” he says with a resigned smile.

“I consider myself guilty,” he says when reporter Snoop asks him if his loneliness is also because of others. And he adds: “You think you're young, that you're in power, and then peace!”, then he continues with optimism: “But if you know how to live your life, you're not alone. I, speaking to you now, consider that I'm not alone.”

Being able to get out of the house helps him a lot. “My friends kind of died.” His knowledge remained. In his walks with his hands clasped behind his back, he strikes up a conversation with whoever passes by on the street. Sometimes she's not lucky, like the afternoon she gets water from the spring and wants to know whose a man is waiting for his bottle to be filled. The man doesn't feel like talking, but Nae doesn't mind, writes Snoop.

Not all single people are like him. The more overwhelming the feeling of belonging, the more sensitive you become to rejection. “Imagine you strike up a conversation with someone in a store and that person doesn't respond—if you're feeling extremely lonely, you might feel rejected and wonder if there's something wrong with you,” Claudia Hammond wrote in an article after completing the Loneliness Experiment.

Many of those who no longer have satisfactory human connections, but have Internet connection, relieve their loneliness on social networks. But the effect is opposite to the desired one. A study by researchers in five countries suggests that people who use social media to maintain their relationships feel lonelier than those who use it for other reasons. And other studies point to the same problem.

Globally, one in six people is affected by loneliness, according to a 2025 report by the World Health Organization. The worst is for young people and those who do not have enough material resources.

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