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Isabella Pelà

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Isabella Pelà (born 26 July 1914) is an Italian supercentenarian whose age is validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG).

Biography[]

Isabella Pelà was born in Rovigo, Veneto, Italy on 26 July 1914.

At the age of 16, she married Achille Masarà (who died in 1994), a judicial officer. At 18, she gave birth to her first child, Ilda (who died in 2023), and two years later, her second child, Loris, was born. Due to her husband's work, she was forced to move several times, living between Veneto and Emilia Romagna, where she settled in Lugo and remained until 2014. She then moved to Trentino, where she lives with her nephew Alberto Bottiglieri, whom she always follows on his annual business trips to Phuket, Thailand.

At about 100 years old, she took a plane for the first time, visiting numerous places such as Dubai, Bangkok, Pisa, Venice, Munich, Prague, and Salzburg. In 2022 and 2023, her nephew accompanied her on trips to Spain.

Every year, she spends a few months in Thailand with her nephew, escaping the low winter temperatures of Trentino and protecting herself from potentially fatal bronchitis or pneumonia. In Thailand, she contracted COVID-19 twice and even underwent surgery. In both cases she successfully recovered, also becoming one of the oldest known survivors of the virus.

Her numerous travels, even as a supercentenarian, probably make her one of the oldest tourists ever. Another notable case of a supercentenarian tourist is Herman Smith-Johannsen that in June 1986, around his 111th birthday, he returned to his native Norway for a visit after spending more than eight decades in Canada. However, on December 26, he caught the flu and was hospitalized in Tønsberg, where he passed away on January 5, 1987, at the age of 111 years and 204 days.

In July 2024, she celebrated her 110th birthday and became a supercentenarian.

Isabella Pelà currently lives in Castello-Molina di Fiemme, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy, at the age of 111 years, 141 days.

References[]

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