VERBANIA, Italy — Celebrity came late to Emma Morano. Her routine life, in fact, might have raised barely an eyebrow were it not for the fact that she’s managed to hold on to it for so long.
At 115 years and nearly three months, Ms. Morano is the oldest person in Europe, the fifth oldest in the world and one of only a handful of people whose lives have straddled three centuries.
In her time, she has watched Italy evolve from a monarchy to a republic that spawned nearly 70 governments in seven decades, with a 20-year foray into Fascism in the middle. She survived two world wars, and the hardship of their aftermath; years of domestic terrorism, and years of economic prosperity that transformed Italy from an agrarian economy to one of the world’s most industrialized nations.
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“She’s aware of the privilege of living,” said Dr. Bava, who said Ms. Morano had always graciously accepted the aging process and the aches and pains that come with it. He visits her once a month, just to check in.
“If all my patients were like this,” he said, “I could have spent my days reading newspapers.”
A version of this article appears in print on February 15, 2015, on page A14 of the New York edition with the headline: Raw Eggs and No Husband Since ’38 Keep Her Young at 115. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
