Guinness World Records is saddened to learn of the passing of Emma Martina Luigia Morano of Vercelli, Italy, holder of the record titles for Oldest living person and Oldest living woman.

Born on 29 November 1899, Emma was the last known person living who was born in the 19th century.

Emma was confirmed as holding both Guinness World Records titles in May last year following research conducted by the Gerontology Research Group.

Oldest living person Emma Morano GWR certificate presentation

Raised in Vercelli – the oldest of eight siblings – Emma later moved to Verbania on the shores of Lake Maggiore, Italy where she remained for the majority of her life.

Emma followed the same extraordinary diet for around 90 years – three eggs per day (two raw, one cooked), fresh Italian pasta and a dish of raw meat, only changing her routine within the final years of her life.

Oldest living person Emma Morano GWR certificate

Emma was engaged to a man who was called to the front during the First World War. Devastatingly, she never saw him again and assumed he had died.

She married someone else in 1926 and later gave birth to a child who tragically passed away at only six months old.

This marriage was abusive. Emma told La Stampa in 2011 that her husband had blackmailed her into getting married, threatening to kill her.