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WALKING TOURS OF ROME

The Street Shrines of Rome

9/7/2019

 
Madonna del Buon Consiglio, Via di Monserrato, Rome
Madonna del Buon Consiglio, Via di Monserrato

The street shrines (edicole sacre), which one sees throughout the heart of Rome, are known locally as Madonnelle. The shrines are most commonly situated at street corners and, as their name suggests, they mostly depict the Madonna, with or without her Son. 

In the days before gas and electricity, the shrines, which were lit up at night by small oil lamps, provided almost the only form of lighting in the streets of Rome.

The Madonnelle, which 
mainly date back to the 18th and 19th centuries, vary enormously in form and scale, from small, painted images to large and extravagant concoctions in stone. The shrines are often protected from the elements by a metal baldachin, a tent-like canopy. 

Of the thousands of street shrines that once existed in Rome, only five hundred or so remain.  The oldest, the so-called Imago Pontis (1523), can be found in Via dei Coronari. The painting of the Coronation of the Virgin is by Perin da Vaga, while the stone frame is the work of Antonio da Sangallo the Younger. 

Imago Pontis, Via dei Coronari, Rome
Imago Pontis, Via dei Coronari
Madonna and Child with San Filippo Neri, 1716, Via del Pellegrino, Rome
Madonnella, 1716, Via del Pellegrino
Madonnella, Via Mario de' Fiori, Rome
Madonnella, Via Mario de' Fiori
Madonnella, Piazza della Trinità dei Monti, Rome
Madonnella, Piazza della Trinità dei Monti

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    Walking Tours For Discerning Travellers

    My name is David Lown and I am an art historian from Cambridge, England. Since 2001 I have lived in Italy, where I run private and
    small-group walking tours
    of Rome.

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  • Home
  • Private Tours
  • Small-Group Tours
  • Contact
  • Rome
  • St Peter's Basilica
    • Altars >
      • Altar of St Joseph
      • Altar of St Gregory the Great
      • Altar of the Madonna of Succour
      • Altar of St Sebastian
      • Altar of the Lie
      • Altar of the Presentation of the Virgin
      • Altar of St Jerome
      • Altar of the Transfiguration
      • Altar of Pope Leo the Great
    • Monuments >
      • Countess Matilda of Canossa
      • Maria Clementina Sobieska
      • Queen Christina of Sweden
      • Pope Innocent VIII
      • Pope Paul III
      • Pope Gregory XIII
      • Pope Gregory XIV
      • Pope Leo XI
      • Pope Urban VIII
      • Pope Alexander VII
      • Pope Clement X
      • Pope Innocent XI
      • Pope Alexander VIII
      • Pope Innocent XII
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      • Pope Pius VIII
      • Pope Gregory XVI
      • Pope Pius X
      • Pope Benedict XV
      • Pope Pius XI
      • Pope Pius XII
      • Pope John XXIII
      • The Stuarts
    • Portico >
      • Door of Death
      • Door of Good and Evil
      • Central Door
      • Door of the Sacraments
      • Holy Door
    • Pieta
    • Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament
    • Cathedra Petri
    • Crossing >
      • Baldacchino
      • Confessio
      • Dome
      • St Longinus
      • St Helena
      • St Veronica
      • St Andrew
    • St Peter
    • Chapel of the Choir
    • Chapel of the Baptistery
    • Nave
  • Sistine Chapel
    • North Wall
    • South Wall
    • East Wall
    • Ceiling: Part One >
      • Ceiling: Part Two
      • Ceiling: Part Three
    • The Last Judgement
  • Fountains
    • Trevi Fountain
    • Fontana della Barcaccia
    • Fountain of the Triton
    • Fountain of the Bees
    • Fountain of Moses
    • Fountain of the Four Rivers
    • Fountain of the Acqua Paola
    • Fountain of the Turtles
    • Fountain of the Naiads
    • Fountain of the Cannonball
    • Piazza del Popolo
    • Fountain of the Pantheon
    • Fountains of Piazza Farnese
    • Fountain of Goddess Roma
    • Rioni Fountains
    • Street Fountains
    • Venice Marries the Sea
    • St Peter's Square
    • Fountain of the Moor
    • Fountain of Neptune
    • Fountain of the Porter
    • Fountain of the Seahorses
  • Gallery
    • Piazzas >
      • Piazza del Campidglio
      • Piazza del Quirinale
      • Piazza del Popolo
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      • Piazza Navona
      • Piazza S. M. in Trastevere
      • Piazza San Pietro
    • Mosaics
    • Fountains
    • Churches
    • Ancient Rome
    • Palaces
    • Domes
    • Papal Coats of Arms
    • Street Shrines
    • Old Photographs
    • Borromini & the Baroque