Lorenzo Berzero

BIOGRAPHY

Berzero was born in San Germano Vercellese, a commune in Piedmont’s Vercelli province, on 2 March 1908. He worked in agriculture as a horseman who transported goods between rice fields and farmhouses, and was later employed by a local cooperative in 1955.

Berzero married a woman named Virginia. The couple had one son, Giuseppe, in 1938, and one daughter, Maria Teresa, in 1944. In 1950, Berzero was hit by a truck, but later made a full recovery after 7 months of hospitalisation. He continued working until his retirement at 67 years of age.

After his wife’s death in 1995 aged 88, Berzero moved to Novara three years later to be closer to his family. His son Giuseppe died in 2016 at the age of 78.

Berzero lived independently until the age of 106, when he underwent surgery for bowel cancer, and was relocated to a Novara nursing home to recover. In 2016, aged 108, his daughter and two grandchildren took him to the seaside town of Varazze, Liguria to see the sea for the second time in his life; he hadn’t seen the sea for 30 years.

In his centenarian years, Berzero didn’t take any medication, was reported to have a sharp memory, and was in good health – apart from deteriorating hearing – until three weeks before his death. He died on 2 August 2018 at the age of 110 years, 153 days. He was the 10th-oldest man ever to die in Italy.

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RECOGNITION

Following the death of 109-year-old Maria Vittoria Paracchini on 18 November 2017, Berzero became Piedmont’s oldest resident.

Berzero became the oldest living man in Italy after the death of Andrea Lattari on 29 May 2018. He was the first man from Piedmont to hold this title since before 1971. Following his own death, his successor as Italy’s oldest man was then-109-year-old Luigi Tomasi.

Berzero’s age was verified by Paolo Scarabaggio and validated by the ESO on 3 August 2021.