ROME: Emma Morano, humanity’s last known survivor of the 19th century, turned 117 in style on Tuesday, dressing up for the occasion and demanding to know “does my hair look all right?” before having her photograph taken.

The oldest known person alive can hardly see, is very hard of hearing, has been largely bed-bound for the last year and has not left her small second-storey flat in Verbania on the shores of Lake Maggiore in northern Italy for over two decades.

But her doctor, Carlo Bava, said his patient remained alert and continued to have a reasonable quality of life.

Bava said she was very aware of all the fuss being made about her reaching the latest milestone in a remarkable life that began on Nov 29, 1899. “She is very lucid, very present,” Bava said.

“She was very happy and honoured to get a telegram of congratulations this morning from President (Sergio) Mattarella.

“There was a television crew there and she got flowers. She had dressed up and she was very proud. She posed for a photographer and even asked if her hair looked good. “So I think you can say she is on good form.”

Morano has reached a ripe old age despite an extraordinarily tough life, even by the standards of many of her contemporaries, and following a diet that flouts almost every piece of established medical wisdom.

“I eat two eggs a day, and that’s it. And cookies. But I do not eat much because I have no teeth,” she said in an interview last month.

She has long eschewed vegetables and her consumption of fruit is limited to the occasional handful of grapes or snacks of apple puree.

Published in Dawn November 30th, 2016