Antonio Todde

Article in other languages:

• Antonio_Todde
• Antonio_Todde

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (February 2009)

Antonio Todde
Todde at age 112 (right)
Born	January 22, 1889(1889-01-22) Tiana, Sardinia, Italy
Died	January 3, 2002 (aged &0000000000000112.000000112 years, &0000000000000346.000000346 days)

Antonio Todde (January 22, 1889 – January 3, 2002) was the oldest documented man in the world in 2001–2002 until he died at age 112 years 346 days, after the death of American John Painter, and briefly the oldest person in the history of Italy.^[1]

He was born in the village of Tiana, in the province of Nuoro, Sardinia.^[2] The hilly countryside of Nuoro is noted for its remarkable centenarian density.^[3] Among the extremely small number of people who reach supercentenarian age worldwide, males are a pronounced minority, but at the end of his life Todde was not even the only male supercentenarian in Sardinia (Giovanni Frau from Orroli was 111).^[3]

A widower for the past decade, Todde was looked after by his daughters, Laura, 79, and Angela, 76 — comparative youngsters in a family where one of his cousins, Michela Deiana, also reached 100.^[3] His father lived to be 90, his mother was denied her centenary when she was poisoned by a rotten cheese at 99,^[4] and another sister was still going strong at 97 at the time of his death.^[3]

Todde's diet was based on pasta and soup. He had some pork or lamb each day and a glass-and-a-half of red wine. In the mornings he crossed himself before washing and splashing on a little aftershave. The local priest gave him holy communion once a month.^{[citation needed]}

Born to a poor shepherd family in the medieval center of Tiana, Todde was the third of 12 children. He attended school for a year before following his father and their flock of sheep up the steep mountain paths to green pastures several days' walk away.^{[citation needed]}

During his 65 years in the high pastures Todde traveled only by foot and on horseback. He remembers hearing a strange noise at the age of seven and discovering a "cart with an engine". But he generally avoided traveling by car.^{[citation needed]}

He left Sardinia only to fight in the First World War. While recovering from a grenade wound in northern Italy he saw his first airplane and took a shot at it.^{[citation needed]}

In 1920, he married Maria Antonia, then aged 25, and they had four daughters and a son. She died in 1990, aged 95. The first time Todde saw a television was in the market town of Nuoro in 1954 (the same year RAI started broadcasting), and he would cycle 30 miles each night to watch its fuzzy pictures of dancing girls. Years later, he conceded that he still enjoyed the scantily clad dancers on variety shows.^{[citation needed]}

He was wounded in the Battle of Mount Grappa in the First World War, and was for a time the longest-lived known person ever to have fought in a war.^{[citation needed]} On 19 December 2005 however, Todde's record as the oldest war combatant was ostensibly surpassed by Moses Hardy of the United States. A recent census find, however, suggests Hardy could have been one year younger.^{[citation needed][original research?]} Thus, Todde remains the oldest verified man in the history of Italy and was the oldest proven combat veteran on record until his record was overtaken by Henry Allingham in May 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Notes

See also

• Oldest people
• List of the verified oldest men
• Supercentenarian
• Veterans of the First World War who died in 2002

References

• The Oldest Human Beings

Questions for article: