Photo of three Italian grandmothers with migrant children in their laps goes viral in #Italy

They are three Italian grandmothers named Nicolina, Vincenza, and Maria, and they surely never imagined they’d become famous on the social networks in their country. Yet, today they have, thanks to a simple act of love.

The three have gone viral on Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, just a few days after they decided to have a photo taken in which each of them is holding an African immigrant child on her lap.

Messages of support didn’t take long to appear. “I see that the world is still able to show humanity: grandmothers who act like grandmothers for children at a welcoming center. Above all today, when 150 people probably lost their life at sea, it heals my heart,” wrote someone on Twitter.

One of the grandmothers’ actual grandsons chimed in, according to the website Open: “To think that 37 years ago, I was on that same lap, wrapped in that same smile, and now miles away and a few years older, I’m very happy to be able to share the same emotions with a child I don’t know, but who deserves it all and more. You’re beautiful, grandma, obviously all the people in the photo are beautiful.”