AGING: Emma Morano, world’s oldest and likely last living person born in 1800s, celebrates 117th birthday.

Italy is known for its centenarians – many of whom live on the Mediterranean island of Sardinia – and gerontologists are studying Morano, along with a handful of Italians over 105, to try to figure out their longevity. Bava has credited Morano’s long life to her genetic makeup, “and nothing else.”

One of her sisters lived to be over 100 and another to nearly 100.

“Her longevity is a genetic fact, nothing else,” Bava said. “She is a person who from a young age had a difficult life that would have sapped the energy out of anyone.”

He said Morano’s husband beat her and she lost an infant son to crib death at 6 months. She supported herself working in a factory making jute bags, then in a hotel, working well past retirement age.

“She abandoned the husband in the Fascist era, when women were supposed to be submissive. She was always very decisive,” her doctor said.

Bava, who has known Morano since she was 90, also praised her emotional stability.

“She is always a very serene. The beauty of Emma is that it is normal that she smiles, but also in difficulties, she is very decisive,” he said. “But perhaps this tranquility comes with age, which becomes wisdom. Who knows?”

Indeed.