Emma Morano
| Emma Morano | |
|---|---|
| Born | Emma Martina Luigia Morano 29 November 1899[1] (age Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.) Civiasco (Vercelli), Kingdom of Italy |
| Residence | Pallanza (Verbano-Cusio-Ossola), Italy |
| Known for | Oldest living person (since 12 May 2016) Oldest verified Italian person ever Last verified living person born in the 1800s |
| Spouse(s) | Giovanni Martinuzzi (1901–1978) (m. 1926–1978; his death)[2] |
| Children | One child (1937–1937)[3] |
| Parent(s) | Giovanni Morano and Matilde Bresciani[4] |
Emma Martina Luigia Morano (born 29 November 1899) is an Italian supercentenarian who is, at the age of Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist., the world's oldest living person, and the last verified living person to have been born in the 1800s.
She is the oldest verified Italian person ever, the second oldest European ever behind Jeanne Calment, and one of the ten verified oldest people ever.
Biography
Early life
Emma Martina Luigia Morano was born on 29 November 1899 in Civiasco, Vercelli, Piedmont, Italy, to Giovanni Morano and Matilde Bresciani,[5] the eldest of eight children, five daughters and three sons. She had a long-lived family: her mother, an aunt and some of her siblings turned 90, and one of her sisters, Angela Morano (1908–2011),[6] died at age 102.
When she was a child, she moved from the Sesia Valley to Ossola for her father's job,[7] but the climate was so unhealthy there that a physician advised her family to live somewhere with a milder climate, so she moved to Pallanza, on Lake Maggiore, where she still lives. In October 1926, she married Giovanni Martinuzzi[8] (1901–1978), and in 1937 her only child was born but died when he was only six months old. The marriage was not happy,[3] so in 1938 Morano separated from her husband, driving him out of the house; despite the couple's separation, they remained married until his death in 1978.
Later life
Until 1954, she worked at Maioni Industry, a jute factory in her town. She subsequently worked in the kitchen of Collegio Santa Maria, a Marianist boarding school in Pallanza, until her retirement at the age of 75.[5]
Morano was still living alone in her home on her 115th birthday.[9] When asked about the secret of her longevity, she said that she had never used drugs, eats three eggs a day, drinks a glass of homemade brandy, and enjoys a chocolate sometimes, but, above all, she thinks positively about the future.[10] Morano credits her long life to her diet of raw eggs and being single.[11]
In 2011, Morano was visited as part of a worldwide study conducted by George Church for Harvard Medical School of Boston, to study the secret of her longevity.[12]
In December 2011, she was awarded the honor of Knight of Order of Merit of the Italian Republic by President Giorgio Napolitano.[13]
Morano became the oldest living person in Italy and Europe after the death of Maria Redaelli on 2 April 2013.[8] On her 114th birthday, she gave a short live TV interview to a RAI show.[14] On her 116th birthday, Morano received congratulations from Pope Francis.[15]
She surpassed the age of Venere Pizzinato in August 2014 and Dina Manfredini (died in the USA) in August 2015, to become the oldest Italian person ever.[16][17] On 12 May 2016, upon the death of American woman Susannah Mushatt Jones, Morano became the world's oldest living person and also the last verified living person born in the 1800s.[18]
See also
- List of Italian supercentenarians
- List of European supercentenarians
- List of the verified oldest women
- List of the verified oldest people
- List of oldest people by country
- Longevity
- Oldest people
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 (Italian) "I miei 112 anni di storia d'Italia"
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Emma Morano, è italiana la nonnina del mondo Retrieved May 16, 2016.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
