When it comes to living to a ripe old age, Malta’s oldest lady says to leave it in God’s hands as “there are no secrets”.

Ħamrun’s Maria Farrugia is Malta’s oldest person, a supercentenarian, being born 7th March, 1912. Having her very own page on the official wiki page for elderly people around the world, Maria’s life spanned some of the most important moments in modern Maltese history.

Incredibly, she’s lived through both the Spanish Flu pandemic AND the COVID-19 pandemic. 

One of five children to a mother who also lived to 100, Maria still remembers losing one of her siblings at age 37 to a bomb during one of the first air raid bombings in Malta.

Born in Mosta but growing up in Msida, Maria moved to Ħamrun during the war.

Widowed in 1962 with three children – two of whom have passed away – she’s now taken care of by her daughter Carmen and her grandson Stephen.

Maria’s story was shared by social media page The People of Malta, who described Maria as a “positive person. She tries to be as independent as she possibly can. We have never heard her grumble or complain except when she is in real pain”.

Though she says there’s no secret to her old age success, Maria family remains important to her, and that she doesn’t sleep without saying the rosary. And when it comes to food, Maria wants nothing more than “simple food like vegetable soup and a slice of bread with oil and olives”.