Emma Morano, thought to be the world's oldest person and the last to be born in the 1800s, has celebrated her 117th birthday, still swearing by her diet of two raw eggs a day.
Ms Morano was born in November 1899, four years before the Wright brothers first took to the air. Her life has spanned three centuries, two World Wars and over 90 Italian governments.
Friends, neighbours and her doctor gathered in her small apartment in the northern town of Verbania, on the shores of Lake Maggiore, to mark the latest milestone, presenting her with a large white birthday cake.
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Ms Morano told Reuters: "My life wasn't so nice. I worked in a factory until I was 65, then that was that."
In an interview with La Stampa newspaper five years ago she said her fiance had died in World War One and that she had then been forced to marry a man she did not love.
It was not a happy marriage. They had a boy in 1937, but the baby died after just six months and the following year Ms 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," she said.
Ms Morano lives alone and has outlived all her eight brothers and sisters, including one who died at 102. She has thrived despite an unorthodox, unbalanced diet.
Her doctor said: "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 fruit or vegetables. Her characteristic is that she always eats the same thing, everyday, every week, every month and every year."
