Vitantonio Lovallo, Italy's and Europe's oldest man, has died at the age of 112 in the town of Sarnelli, infohub.kz reports.
Lovallo was born in 1914 and turned 112 on March 25 this year.
In his youth he worked as a shepherd and later as a mule driver. During World War II he was drafted into the army and was taken prisoner in 1943.
Lovallo was first interned on Rhodes, from where he was sent to a concentration camp in Germany. He was liberated on May 8, 1945, after the arrival of Soviet troops.
"His long life, lived with simplicity, strength and love for his family and his land, will remain in all our hearts," Avigliano Mayor Giuseppe Mecca said following the death of the country's oldest man.
According to Bild, Lovallo was recognized as Europe's oldest man; after his death, the title passed to 111-year-old Portuguese man Joaquim Varela.
In the ranking of Europe's oldest residents, however, he places only 32nd — after 31 women.