BEACONSFIELD’S Giuseppe Pittorino has reached 105 years old in miraculous condition.
The former cray fisherman, who reached the milestone on October 7, can still negotiate a full flight of stairs down to his backyard and tucks away a healthy meal every day.
Still living at home he visits Foley aged care village twice a week to play bingo and participate in drawing activities.
One of his eight children, Rose Lopez, has been working in aged care for 30 years and says she’s never seen anyone reach her father’s age with such vitality.
“He loves his food,” she says. “The doctors say that’s what keeps him going.”
“Pasta marinara is his favourite dish,” adds sister Liana Pittorino, who lives with their father.
An ear infection has made communication difficult recently but Mr Pittorino was able to recall a decades-old trip back to his home country of Italy.
• Giuseppe Pittorino has hit 105 and is in miraculous condition. Photo by Steve Grant.
“I had a companion but got lost, so I waited at the train station for 24 hours until he found me,” he says through Rose, his little English failing him.
“I have had a long life.”
Mr Pittorino can recall fishing trips up to the Monte Bello islands and Carnarvon and other aspects of his long career.
“We used to make our own pots, and I went to Sydney to help a man make their pots in Sydney,” he says.
Born on the island of Filicudi off the coast of Sicily in 1909, Mr Pittorino followed two of his brothers to Fremantle in 1927.
He came from a family with 13 children and he and now-deceased wife Nunziata had eight of their own. From them have sprung 20 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren.
Ms Pittorino says following his retirement from fishing, her father threw himself into gardening with a passion, and had been particularly proud of his tomatoes.
He was still gardening after his 100th birthday but a bout of shingles two years ago has slowed him down. She says before then, he’d only needed a walking stick to help him get around.
by STEVE GRANT