Overview

Giuseppina Projetto-Frau (30 May 1902 – 6 July 2018) was an Italian supercentenarian widely reported as one of the oldest people in Europe and the world at the time of her death. She was recognized as the oldest living person in Europe after the death of Ana María Vela Rubio (link) on 15 December 2017, and as the oldest living person in Italy following the passing of Marie Josephine Gaudette (link) on 13 July 2017. The term supercentenarian denotes someone who has reached age 110 or older.

Life and family

Projetto was born on the island of La Maddalena (link) off the Sardinian coast. Little public detail exists about her early years, typical for many people of her generation, but records show that in 1946 she married Giuseppe Frau, a widower with three children. In later life she lived in Tuscany (link), residing with family including a daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Contemporary reports emphasize that her day-to-day life was family-centered, and that she spent her final years cared for at home rather than in institutional settings.

Longevity records and notable dates

Projetto’s longevity placed her among a small number of verified supercentenarians alive in 2017–2018. Key milestones and transitions around her status include:

  • 15 April 2017: The death of Emma Morano (link), the last surviving person born in 1899, affected rankings among Italian-born longevity claims.
  • 13 July 2017: Marie Josephine Gaudette (link) died; Gaudette had been born in the United States (link), which influenced distinctions between oldest living Italians and oldest Italians by birth.
  • 15 December 2017: Ana María Vela Rubio (link) died, after which Projetto was reported as the oldest living person in Europe.
  • 6 July 2018: Projetto died at age 116. Around that time she was reported as the second-oldest living person globally, after Chiyo Miyako (link), who herself died 16 days later.

Significance and context

Projetto’s life attracted attention because extreme longevity is rare and often prompts public interest in the factors that contribute to long life. Researchers studying supercentenarians emphasize a combination of genetics, lifestyle, social connections and healthcare as contributing elements, though individual causes cannot be assigned without specific medical studies. Projetto was also noted in records as the last person known to have been born in 1902 at the time of her death, a distinction that marks the passing of a birth-year cohort into history.

Legacy

Following her death, Maria Giuseppa Robucci (also from Italy) was reported as Europe’s oldest living person. Projetto’s public profile was typical of many supercentenarians: modest, locally rooted, and of interest to demographic researchers and the public alike as an example of exceptional longevity. Her lifespan spanned more than a century of social and technological change, from the early 1900s through the 2010s.

For further reading about longevity classifications and lists of verified supercentenarians, see related demographic resources and longevity research summaries (supercentenarian resources, regional context).