Largest gathering of centenarians record broken with combined age of over 7,000

Can you imagine reaching 100 years of age?

Living through significant cultural moments such as two World Wars, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the recent pandemic?

Well, the Fondazione Opera Immacolata (Italy) brought together 70 people aged 100 or over to break the record for the largest gathering of centenarians.

This beat the previous record of 45 achieved by Queensland Community Care Network (Australia) in 2016.

The Fondazione Opera Immacolata, a retirement home, have been looking after elderly residents since 1955 across 11 establishments in Veneto and Gorizia.

For over 15 years, the foundation has been promoting the annual gathering of centenarians with the number steadily growing.

The Foundation held the event to celebrate life and the many elderly residents who stay in their homes.

So, they invited the mayors of Veneto and the provinces to wish them a special ‘happy birthday’.

The gathering took place inside Padua’s sports hall. 

To verify the record, official documents to prove each person's age had to be shown, including ID cards, passports and birth certificates.

These documents were then verified by Official Adjudicator Lorenzo Veltri.

Each centenarian was then given a blue cockade pinned proudly to their chest.

This is where Lorenzo officially announced that the record had been broken!

The special gathering stood as a celebration for the centenarians, their families and the institutions that support them.

In case you were wondering how to reach this envious age, Marcato Antoneitta aged 109, signed a 'Decalogue of Centenarians'.

This included: physical exercise, maintaining a healthy diet, being curious, to keep reading, family love and working to nurture your resources to avoid boredom and apathy.

After the record was awarded, the mayors of each of the centenarian respected provinces donated olive trees.