Antonio Todde

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Antonio Todde (January 22, 1889 – January 3, 2002) was the oldest documented man in the world in 2001-2002 until he died at almost 113 after the death of John Painter, and briefly the oldest person in the history of Italy.

He was born in the village of Tiana, in the Nuoro province of Sardinia. The hilly country of Nuoro is noted for its remarkable centenarian density. 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 Nuoro.

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 sisters also reached 100. His father lived to 90, his mother was denied her centenary when she was poisoned by a rotten cheese at 99, and another sister is still going strong at 97.

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.

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.

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.

He left Sardinia just once, after being wounded by a grenade in the first world war. While recovering in northern Italy he saw his first airplane and took a shot at it.

In 1920, he married Maria-Antonia, then 25, and they had four daughters and a son. She died in 1990. 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 with a twinkle in his eye that he still enjoyed the scantily clad dancers on variety shows.

He was wounded in the battle of Mount Grappa in World War I and was for a time the longest-lived known person ever to have fought in a war. 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 suggests Mr Hardy could have been one year younger. Thus, Todde remains the oldest man in the history of Italy and the oldest proven combat veteran on record, at 112 years and 346 days.