Love, Before the Digital Era
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Torquato and Maria Pia
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"Vanda and Osvaldo, my parents" - photo sent by Doriana Goracci
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"Germano Pedraza and Lucia Rateni, on their wedding day in June 1954 at the Collegiata di San Orso (Aosta)" - photo sent by Pier Paolo Pedraza
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"My grandparents on the bike" - photo sent by Valerio
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"Nonna Eloide and Nonno Nazzareno in Greccio (Rieti), 1941 ca" - photo sent by Cristian
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"My grandparents Marsimilla and Giuseppe Maggio, during the '50s in Poggiardo (Lecce) - photo sent by Caterina Schito
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"Chiaranz and Maria, engaged, in 1961" - photo sent by Pietro Chiaranz
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"Antonio and Lia di Bagnoregio, babbo e mamma, during their honeymoon in Florence in October 1950" - photo sent by Giovanni Duranti
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"My gorgeous mamma, Lucia, and my papà, Giovanni, in 1955: Sunday at the beach" - photo sent by Antonella Belinello
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"Nonno Enzo and Nonna Melina, engaged, in 1932" photo by Maurizio Molinari
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"Antonietta Del Pero and Ambrogio Cassina on their wedding day" - photo sent by Rina del Pero
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"Giovanni and Giovannina on their wedding day" - photo sent by Mary Eileen Henretty
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"My parents, happy to be together again, in Gaeta, just after the end of World War II" - photo sent by Adriano di Nitto
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"My parents, Luciano Giacò and Maria Savino, on their engagement day, Feb. 14 1924, in Poggio Imperiale (Foggia) - photo sent by Antonio Giaco'
Before smartphones and selfies, before digital and social media, taking photographs was an entirely different affair. Decades ago, as photo ops were rare and developing rolls was expensive, pictures were treasured and jealously stored. People dressed up to take photos, eager to show their spouses and families.
ANSA, Italy's biggest news agency, launched an initiative on its website asking readers to submit snapshots of love from the past, for the period spanning the end of the 19th century to the 1970s. It called it, "L'amore ai tempi dei miei nonni" (Love in my grandparents' age).
Here's a selection of a few of them which certainly inspire tenderness and, perhaps, a feeling of simpler, more genuine times.