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Virginia Dighero
Virginia Dighero-Zolezzi
Birth: 24 December 1891
Lavagna, Liguria, Italy
Death: 28 December 2005
Lavagna, Liguria, Italy
Age: 114 years, 4 days
Country: Italy ITA
Validated

Virginia Dighero-Zolezzi (24 December 1891 – 28 December 2005) was an Italian supercentenarian whose age is validated by the Gerontology Research Group (GRG). She was the oldest Italian person ever until her age was surpassed by Venere Pizzinato-Papo on 28 November 2010.

Biography

VDighero1930s

Dighero-Zolezzi in the 1930s.

Virginia Dighero-Zolezzi was born in Lavagna, Liguria, Italy on 24 December 1891. She married Giobatta Zolezzi and had two children: Giacomo and Attilio. Giobatta died in 1984 at the age of 89.

Dighero became the oldest living woman in Italy, following the death of 113-year-old Teresa Fumarola on 14 May 2003. She became the oldest living person in Italy, following the death of 112-year-old Giovanni Frau on 19 June 2003. On 6 June 2005, at the age of 113 years, 164 days, she surpassed the age of Teresa Fumarola, becoming the oldest Italian person ever.

Dighero became the oldest living person in Europe on 30 August 2005 following the death of 115-year-old Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper of the Netherlands. On 14 September 2005, at the age of 113 years, 264 days, she surpassed the age of Amalia Barone of the United States, becoming the oldest person ever born in Italy.

On 24 December 2005, Dighero celebrated her 114th birthday in the company of her two children Giacomo (aged 83) and Attilio (aged 80). On that occasion, she was visited by the mayor of Lavagna, Giuliano Vaccarezza, and received a telegram from the President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi.

Dighero-Zolezzi died of ischaemia in Lavagna, Liguria, Italy on 28 December 2005 at the age of 114 years, 4 days. At the time of her death, she was the seventh-oldest living person in the world (behind Maria Capovilla, Elizabeth Bolden, Bettie Wilson, Susie Gibson, Emiliano Mercado del Toro and Julie Winnefred Bertrand).

Following her death, 112-year-old Giulia Sani-Casagli became the oldest known living person in Italy and then-113-year-old Camille Loiseau of France became the oldest living person in Europe.

References


Europe's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (VE)

Willem van Renterghem • Marie d'Evergroote • Lavina Hansdatter • Kirsti Skagen • Geert Adriaans Boomgaard • Margaret Ann Neve • Karen BrodbaekSophia Wijnberg • Agnete Olsdatter • Honor Coleman • Sophie Lacomte • Maria Vleminckx • Johanna Berns • Matthias Dodenhoff • Sarah Gardiner • Elisabeth Jensen • Britta Njeldsdatter • Frederick Stabbins • Jane Lister • Martha Truelove • Ann Sharp • Gertrud Kübbeler • Marie Delfairiere • Frances Smith • Katherine Plunket • Eliza Roff • Maria Montemurro • Ellen Palmer • Rachel MacArthur • Anne Marie SkauRachel Swain • Wilhelmine Olschewski • Mary Davey • Francesco Cubadda • Thomas Pope • John Francklow • Rebecca Lees • Sarah Fitt • Johanna Johansson • Elizabeth Sellwood • Petronella Braams • Matilda Coppins • Elizabeth Whitehead • Karl Glockner • Sarah Humphrey • Maria Johansson • Michelina Macchia • Caroline Beale • Josephine Marchal • Luise Rissmann • Christina Karnebeek-Backs • Marie Olsen • Willem Kostering • Ella Ille Rentel • Lovisa Svensson • Ellen Dart • Elizabeth Kensley • Auguste Pahl • Hannah Smith • Anna KrslencovaJohn Mosley Turner • Marie Bernatkova • Ada Roe • Josefa Salas Mateo • Alice Stevenson • Frederick Butterfield • Rose Heeley • Marie-Virginie Duhem • Josefa Llovet • Florence PannellAugustine Tessier • Jeanetta Thomas • Alice Brewster • Petronella Ribbens-Verstallen • Anna Eliza Williams • Jeanne Calment • Lucy Askew • Annie Jennings • Eva Morris • Marie Bremont • Amy Hulmes • Germaine Haye • Teresa Fumarola • Joan Riudavets-Moll • Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper • Virginia Dighero-Zolezzi • Camille Loiseau • Maria de Jesus • Manuela Fernandez-Fojaco • Lucia Lauria • Florrie Baldwin • Venere Pizzinato-Papo • Marcelle Narbonne • Marie-Therese Bardet • Maria Redaelli • Emma Morano • Ana Vela Rubio • Giuseppina Projetto • Maria Giuseppa Robucci • Lucile RandonMaria Branyas Morera


Italy's Oldest Living Person Titleholders (V • TE)

Maria Fionda • Maria Luisa Pepe • Carmela Sansone • Paolina Picchi • Marta Cerruti • Eugenia Raco • Francesco Paba • Maria Irrigato • Francesco Soldati Gabbini • Peppa Ferrante • Giuseppina Misasi • Vincenza Pannuti • Maria Imperiali • Ulrico Miani • Assunta Mazzotta • Caterina Cipolla • Lida Bertonati • Nazzarena Di Leo • Santa Caddeo • Carolina Piatti • Annunziata Di Vincenzo • Luigi Saba • Ida Pietrobon • Giuseppe De Bonis • Cesare Di Claudio • Ottavia Trafeli • Rosalinda Del Duca • Paolo Gioletta • Luigina Pepe • Francesca Adelfio • Domenico Minervino • Maddalena Figone • Maria Sirianni • Giuseppa Spolitu • Chelidonia Merosi-Lollobrigida • Valentino Stella • Eleonora Casagrande • Maria Addolorata de Vitis • Antonio Baldo • Giovanna Lizzio • Antonio Todde • Teresa Fumarola • Giovanni Frau • Virginia Dighero-Zolezzi • Giulia Sani-Casagli • Lorenza Dotta • Maria Negri • Lucia Lauria • Ida Frabboni • Venere Pizzinato-Papo • Stella Nardari-Vecchiato • Maria Redaelli • Emma Morano • Marie-Josephine GaudetteGiuseppina Projetto-FrauMaria Giuseppa RobucciAnna BenericettiValesca TanganelliErminia BianchiniMaria OlivaIda ZoccaratoAngela TiraboschiDomenica ErcolaniClaudia Baccarini

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