A CENTENARIAN has celebrated a landmark birthday by getting her first ever tattoo – setting a record for a Boscombe parlour.

When apprentice tattoo artist Connor Bailey went into work one weekend at No Half Measures tattoo studio in Sea Road last month, he didn’t expect to see a 100-year-old Italian woman walk through the doors asking for her first ever tattoo.

To mark her 100th birthday, Giovanna Monuguzzi was accompanied by her daughter Beatrice to the studio to prove you are never told old to get inked.

Connor, 26, told the Echo: “Obviously I haven’t tattooed anyone that age before and I think a few other studios said they wouldn’t do it before they came to us. I spoke to my mentor about whether it would be alright and he said it would be.

Bournemouth Echo: 100-year-old Giovanna Monuguzzi gets her first tattoo in No Half Measures studio in Boscombe100-year-old Giovanna Monuguzzi gets her first tattoo in No Half Measures studio in Boscombe (Image: No Half Measures)

“I was well chuffed, I thought it was amazing. I spoke to Beatrice and her mum and they were all good with it.”

Giovanna lives in Springbourne with her daughter and moved to the area around 10 years ago from her home in Italy, where she used to run a shop selling clothes.

The sprightly centenarian is described by Beatrice as “very outgoing” and “quite the character” who can still walk long distances each day.

Beatrice told the Echo: “She saw me recently get a tattoo and I said for her 100th birthday I’d treat her to one. At first she said no but I told her how good it would be to remind people, and she agreed.”

Bournemouth Echo: (LtoR) Beatrice Zapparoli, her mother Giovanna Monuguzzi and tattoo artist Connor Bailey outside No Half Measures in Boscombe(LtoR) Beatrice Zapparoli, her mother Giovanna Monuguzzi and tattoo artist Connor Bailey outside No Half Measures in Boscombe (Image: No Half Measures)

Connor continued: “It only took around 20 minutes but I have to say she took it like an absolute champ. She just sat there and didn’t flinch once. She would speak to me in Italian and her daughter would translate, it was great.

“The older you get the more your skin changes so I had to work differently, but it was a really good learning curve for me. My boss told me I beat his record of oldest customer tattooed and they were 86. So when people say tattoos look bad when you get older, that’s all rubbish. It’s never too late.”

The number 100 was tattooed on Giovanna’s arm with a flower underneath.

When asked what her mother’s secret to long life was, Beatrice joked: “Me, of course.”