Emma Morano, World’s Oldest Person, Dies in Italy at 117

Emma Morano lived to be 117 years and 137 days and was born on 29 November 1899. File image of Emma Morano holding a cake with candles marking 117 years on the day of her birthday in Verbania, Italy. (Image: AP)

Emma Morano, who at 117 was believed to be the world's oldest person, died on Saturday in Verbania in Italy, swearing to the end on her diet of two raw eggs a day.

"She reached an incredible finish line," said Silvia Marchionini, Mayor of the town in northern Italy, where Morano lived on the shores of Lake Maggiore.

Morano, who lived 117 years and 137 days, was born on 29 November 1899, four years before the Wright brothers first took to air. Her life spanned three centuries, two World Wars and more than 90 Italian governments. She was believed to be the last surviving child of the 19th century.

Last November, on her 117th birthday, as she sat in an armchair by her window, a white shawl over her shoulders, she said:

My life wasn’t so nice. I worked in a factory until I was 65, then that was that.

An Unhappy Marriage, And Three Eggs

In an interview with La Stampa newspaper five years ago, she said her fiancé had died in World War I and that she had then been forced to marry a man she did not love.

"'Either you agree to marry me or I will kill you'," Morano said, recalling his proposal. "I was 26. We got married."

It was not a happy marriage. They had a son in 1937, but the baby died after just six months and the following year Morano kicked out her abusive husband. "I separated from him in 1938. I think I was one of the first in Italy to do that."

Morano outlived all her eight brothers and sisters, including one who died at 102. She thrived on an unorthodox, unbalanced diet.

When I first knew her she used to eat three eggs a day. Two raw and one fried. Today she has slowed down a bit, reducing the number to two some days because she says three can be too much. She has never eaten much fruits or vegetables. Her characteristic is that she always eats the same thing, everyday, every week, every month and every year.

Carlo Bava, Emma Morano’s Doctor

Marchionini, the Mayor of Verbania, told the Italian news agency AGI that her city has more than 20 people aged over 100.

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