VERBANIA, Italy — The last time Emma Morano left her apartment, she was 102 years old. Fame came late in life — after she hit 110. Last year, she was feted as the oldest person on earth. She had fans the world over. The mayor of her Italian town thanked her for putting it on the map.

Ms. Morano, the last person documented as being born in the 1800s, died peacefully on April 15. She was 117 years, 137 days, 16 hours and some minutes old.

The few worldly possessions she left behind, accumulated over the course of more decades than you or I will probably live, didn’t take up much space in the tiny two-room church-owned apartment where she spent the last 27 years of her life.