On June 1st, Alessandro Delucchi, a representative of LongeviQuest and the European Supercentenarian Organisation, traveled to the town of Sturno in the Campania region to visit Mrs. Lucia Laura Sangenito, the second-oldest living person in Italy, aged 113 years and 192 days.
Mrs. Sangenito, accompanied by researchers Francesco Colella (left) and Alessandro Delucchi (right).
Mr. Delucchi, accompanied by two Italian researchers, Francesco Colella and Tiziano Gaudino, spent four hours with Mrs. Sangenito and her family, listening to stories of her long life. She was presented with a LongeviQuest certificate, a Genoese pastry cake (pandolce), and orchid flowers. Her daughter prepared coffee and a handmade Caprese Sturnese cake for the visitors, and they enjoyed these treats along with cherries picked from the garden.
Mrs. Sangenito was born in Sturno on 22 November 1910. On 2 February 1939, she got married and went on to have four children. She worked as an agricultural laborer and served as a midwife for the children of Sturno. Her husband was a farmer. Unfortunately, her first two children died shortly after birth. The third child, a boy named Michele, is now 82 years old, married with children, and has three grandchildren. He resides in Naples. The youngest child, Maria, aged 78, lives with her mother Laurina in Sturno. Maria was a teacher of Italian literature in middle schools.
Mrs. Sangenito lost her home in the 1962 earthquake. Her family constructed a new house just a few meters away, and she has resided in this new home since 1970. She spent her entire life in her birthplace of Sturno.
Mrs. Sangenito, accompanied by her daughter, Maria.
Her husband sadly passed away on 28 September 2010 at the age of 98, shortly before Laurina’s 100th birthday. Her daughter Maria is now her full-time caregiver, but she also manages to find time for her hobbies: gardening, growing vegetables and fruits in the garden, reading books, and cooking. Laurina enjoys a wide variety of foods and has always relied on the produce from her own land. Apart from sugar and coffee, she has never purchased food from shops. She enjoyed preparing traditional Irpinian pasta at home, such as fusilli and tagliatelle.
At 112 years old, she underwent six months of chemotherapy for cancer on her nose. After completing the treatment, she recovered from the illness.
Longevity runs in her family, as her mother lived to be 101 years old.
The research team observed that she remains talkative and friendly, even at the age of 113. Currently, she is the second-oldest living person in Italy, behind Claudia Baccarini, who is just a month older. She is the 11th-oldest person to have ever lived in Italy and the oldest person to have ever lived in the region of Campania. She is also the 7th-oldest living person in Europe and among the top 20 oldest living people in the world.
We would like to expresses sincere gratitude for the opportunity to meet Mrs. Sangenito, to learn about her life, and for the warm welcome extended to the research team. We look forward to meeting her again and wish her continued good health and much happiness.
Mrs. Sangenito, accompanied by Tiziano Gaudino.
