"Madonnelle: Little Madonnas of the Streets" Italy Travelogue by goodfish

You will notice them on street corners, above doorways, and tucked into alcoves throughout Italy. They may be large and heavy with lavish sculpture, painted imagery and baroque embellishments, or tiny, crumbling niches housing faded plastic icons or photographs. They are the Madonnelle and the story of how they came to be begins long before the existence of the nooks and crannies they gaze serenely from today.

If you've ever visited the ruins of Pompeii, you may have seen little shrines that were built into the peristyles and kitchens of the villas and the interior walls of the shops? These were called lararia and they held painted or carved images of protective gods - Lares - who watched over the inhabitants of the household or business. These same guardians were assigned to harbors, towns, neighborhoods, farms and - most notably in this case - crossroads.

Researchers determine that the first corner temples were built around the 5th or 6th century BC during annual festivals when furrows which marked the division of rural property were re-plowed. Those furrows gradually became footpaths, then roads, and veneration of old lararia at the intersections expanded from the protection of livestock, farmers and crops to that of travelers as well.

When Caesar Augustus came into power at the end of the first century BC and urbanized Rome into several hundred neighborhoods, he capitalized on the ancient custom by replacing the old gods with images of his divinely appointed self and his family, and ordering additional shrines be placed at the corners of the newly designated precincts.

Jump forward a couple more centuries to the reign of Constantine and the legalization of Christianity…

Slowly, gradually, the former statuary and frescos, now considered pagan, were removed or covered over by pilgrims of the now-recognized faith, and a new icon took their place: that of the Virgin Mary. It is believed that the proliferation of this particular image was due largely to the Marians: a group that reveres the Madonna to an extent that made the church authorities of that era a little twitchy. They perceived the worship of these humble little shrines as undermining their role - and their power - as necessary middlemen between their flock and God. And there seemed to be little they could do about it as the Madonnelle had captured the hearts of the people so more and more of them were appearing around the cities.

Some of them were expensive creations financed by the wealthy to commemorate a notable event, and others were crude affairs cobbled together by the poor from whatever scraps were available but nearly all of them included a shelf - an altar of sorts - where offerings of flowers or other little gifts could be left in return for the answering of prayers. The shelf also held candles or oil lamps - replaced much later by gaslights and then electricity - that provided the only dim illumination of dark, narrow city streets for many centuries. Most were also placed high enough so that passing wagons, carriages and livestock couldn't bump into and damage them, and had canopies or deep, projecting cornices to keep them dry.

Right around the time of the Reformation - when support for the Papacy was a bit low - a funny thing happened: some of the Madonnas began to exhibit astonishing behavior. Some of them wept tears; others bled when struck by stones; still others were reported to be swiveling their eyes around. Miraculous? Absolutely! My goodness, it would just never do to leave such treasures on a grubby 'ol STREET, would it? Oh no. The suddenly 'sacred' icons (according to the Powers That Were, anyway) were whisked into the control of various basilicae, and others had churches constructed especially to house their previously scorned flakes of paint. The rest were given some semblance of grudging ecclesiastical legitimacy, and everyone was happy.

The oldest of the Madonnelle are long gone but hundreds of them - mostly dating from between the 17th and 19th centuries - can be found in the historic neighborhoods of Rome and other cities and towns throughout Italy. Not all shrines are elevated, street-corner versions or contain Madonnas either: charming little vignettes of various, religious iconography find their way into any niche large enough to accommodate them, or sit amid shady corners of tiny gardens. Maybe the spirits of the old Lares keep them company?