Italian woman believed to be Europe's oldest person dead at 116
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}An Italian woman who authorities say was the oldest person in Europe and the second oldest in the world died Tuesday at the age of 116.
Giuseppina Robucci, born on March 20, 1903, passed away at dawn in the southern Italian town of Poggio Imperiale, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We are saddened by her death, but at the same time we are honored to have had her as a fellow citizen," Alfonso D'Aloisio, the town's mayor, told ANSA.
This photo taken in March shows Giuseppina Robucci from Poggio Imperiale, near Foggia, Southern Italy.
Known locally as Nonna Peppa, Robucci had five children, nine grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. ANSA said she ran a coffee bar with her husband for years, and had been named "honorary mayor" in 2012.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Robert Young of the U.S.-based Gerontology Research Group told the Associated Press that Robucci was the last European born in 1903 and was just two months younger than the current oldest living person, Kane Tanaka of Japan, who was born on Jan. 2, 1903.
Italy previously claimed the world's oldest woman. Emma Moran, the last living person verified to have been born in the 1800s, died on April 15, 2017, at the age of 117 years and 137 days.
Fox News' Francesca Walton and the Associated Press contributed to this report.