by Stefania Fumo
ROME, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Italy's oldest man, Lorenzo Berzero, died aged 110 on Thursday, local media reported Friday.
He was born on March 2, 1908, in the village of San Germano Vercellese, which, with a population of about 1,800, is located in the northern Piedmont region whose capital is Turin, according to ANSA news agency.
He is survived by a daughter and two grandchildren, and died at the retirement home where he had been living since 2015, according to Turin-based La Stampa newspaper.
Berzero first worked as a "cavallante", or horse cart driver, taking seasonal farm laborers from the train station to the surrounding rice fields and back. He later became a driver for a transportation cooperative, and retired aged 67, his daughter Maria Teresa told La Stampa.
Two years ago, in August 2016, La Stampa ran a story about Berzero under the headline: "Ferragosto (Italian summer holiday) at Varazze (seaside resort) at 108 years of age: a gift to the record-making grandfather who wanted to see the sea once more."
"The air does me good, it reminds me of my youth," Berzero, who had not been to the seaside in 30 years, told La Stampa at the time.
"He's happy to take walks, eats a lot, food is his passion," Maria Teresa added. "He has an immense will to live and continues to make plans for the future."
While Berzero declined to reveal the secret of his longevity, his daughter said that he was in excellent health and took no medication, except for a pill for his blood pressure.
Last month the oldest woman in Italy and in Europe, Giuseppina Projetto, died near Florence aged 116.
