Italian Emma Morano, last known survivor of 19th century, dies at 117

Emma Morano, an Italian woman believed to have been the oldest person alive and the last survivor of the 19th century, died Saturday at the age of 117, Italian media reported.

Emma Morano poses next to a picture depicting her when she was young, in Verbania, Italy, Friday, May 13, 2016 Source: AAP

Morano, born on November 29 1899, died at her home in Verbania, in northern Italy, the reports said.

"She had an extraordinary life, and we will always remember her strength to move forward in life," said Silvia Marchionini, the mayor of Verbania, a small village of some 2,000 residents.

According to the US-based Gerontology Research Group (GRG), Morano ceded the crown of the world's oldest human being to Jamaican Violet Brown, who was born on March 10, 1900. 

Morano's death, at the age of 117 years and 137 days, means there is no one living known to have been born before 1900. 

Her first love died in World War I, but she married later and left her violent husband just before the Second World War and shortly after the death in infancy of her only son. That was 30 years before divorce became legal in Italy.

She had clung to her independence, only taking on a full-time carer a couple of years ago, though she had not left her small two-room apartment for 20 years.