Le "Madonnelle" romane

Wandering along the narrow alleyways of Rome take a look over your head and you will see...

Madonna della Lampada (Isola Tiberina)

During the Roman age people started to built, all along the roads, little sanctuaries to the divinity (named “edicole sacre” now called in roman dialect “Madonnelle”) , to protect and help travellers in their way. As Christianity became more diffused thanks to the official acknowledgment, the divinity images were replaced by sacred pictures representing Maria. At first they were placed all along the city walls to protect the city, after they were placed on the building façade at the street crossings. Usually they were not a solemn or monumental rafiguration, but were essentially an expression of the collective religiosity. During the Medioevo and Rinascimento these pictures of Maria were painted directly on the walls and now the sign of time are strictly visible. View an example on this painted image of Maria located in Rome in Via della Luce.

Madonna col Bambino in Via della Luce

Between the 1600 and the 1800 the sacred edicole knew a period of large diffusion, also thanks to many miraculous events happened starting from 9 july 1796 when the picture representing the “Mater Misericordie”, pictured on the wall in a little alleyway near via di San Marcello, moved her eyes.

Madonna Assunta in Via della Scala

These sacred edicole had also an important public function because the votive lights used to keep the sanctuary illuminated where the only way to light the street and guide travellers in their way. An example of these sacred edicole is in Via della Gensola near our apartments, if you want to have a directory of all the sacred edicole in Rome look here (in the box "find locality" write ROME).

Madonna col Bambino in Via dell'Arco di San Callisto