Love, Before the Digital Era

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.