LITTLE MADONNAS

Little Madonnas

Introduction
The ancient Romans venerated the Lares, tutelary spirits of the house, in the form of small statues (of men and women), put in high places. These spirits protected also the roads and their statues were placed at road intersections. This practice is at the root of the very large number of sacred images which populated (and to some extent still populate) the streets of Rome. In 1853 a researcher, Alessandro Rufini, listed 2739 sacred images, the majority of which portrayed a Madonna (hence they are called Madonnelle = Little Madonnas).
Some of these images became associated with miraculous events and were moved inside a church (for example Madonna dell'Archetto).
This page shows a number of sacred images and has a list of links to pages of this website where other sacred images are shown. Be aware that in Rome there are many more Madonnelle to see.

Patterns

The majority of the images were positioned on the line marking the separation between the ground floor and the first floor. An alternative placement was between two windows of the first floor. The height protected the image from damage caused by the carriages and was consistent with the positioning of images inside churches or chapels. In many cases the images were placed at the corner of a building. Because very often an oil-lamp shed some light on the Madonnelle, they constituted for centuries the only public lighting available in Rome.

Near Palazzo Mattei, in Borgo Pio and near Palazzo Patrizi
The Madonnelle were a form of popular devotion. In general the rich did not feel these images would add to the beauty and importance of their palaces and only a limited number of palaces show a sacred image. A miraculous event or just a happy event often led the inhabitants of a street or of a building to commemorate it by placing a little Madonna at the corner of the street. In the XVIIth century the development of stucco techniques made affordable to these people the framing of the image in a little stucco relief. Angels holding the image became a common subject of these reliefs or statues. Angels were a typical Baroque theme, but they were popular among the lower classes well into the XIXth century.

Opposite Cappella Paolina, opposite S. Maria delle Vergini and near Palazzo Lancellotti
A little baldaquin, sometimes made with metal, gave the image some protection against rain. The more sophisticated stucco reliefs were painted in line with the Baroque tendency to mix painting with sculpture (and architecture).

Near S. Maria della Concezione
A certain number of images were made of rather large paintings, a memory perhaps of the Renaissance habit of painting the façades of the palaces. In these cases the subject of the image was more complex and the painting was most likely the initiative of a brotherhood, if not of the pope. The first two images here below are both next to plaques with inscriptions celebrating the opening of a new street.

Near Piazza dell'Orologio, in Via della Dataria and in Piazza della Rotonda
In some cases the stucco reliefs are so large and ornate that the sacred images are somewhat suffocated. Besides many painted images are almost unreadable. In general we know very little about who designed and executed these reliefs.

In Via della Dataria and near S. Eustachio
The large majority of the Madonnelle have a Baroque appearance, even though they were designed in the XIXth or even in the XXth century. In the late XIXth century, however a certain number of Madonnelle were designed having in mind Renaissance patterns.

Near Palazzo Farnese and in Palazzo Altieri
The image below shows an example of the simplest form of Madonnella, most likely the prevailing one until the XVth century. It is however a XXth century Madonnella.

In S. Giovanni di Dio
Directory
(for a map of the districts click here)

Subject Location District Notes

Madonna Opposite Cappella Paolina I-Monti Shown above

Madonna with Saints Collegio dei Neofiti I-Monti -

Madonna Opposite Arco dei Pantani I-Monti -

Madonna Opposite S. Maria delle Vergini II-Trevi Shown above

Madonna Opposite SS. Vincenzo e Anastasio II-Trevi -

Madonna Via della Dataria II-Trevi Shown above

Crucifixion Via della Dataria II-Trevi Shown above

Announcement Opposite Palazzo di Fiano III-Colonna -

Madonna Palazzo Chigi III-Colonna -

Madonna Via Mario dei Fiori III-Colonna -

(2) Madonna Casa dei Preti della Missione III-Colonna -

Madonna Palazzo del Seminario Romano III-Colonna -

Presentation to the Temple Palazzo Serlupi III-Colonna -

Madonna Piazza di Monte d'Oro IV-Campo Marzio -

Madonna Near S. Maria della Concezione IV-Campo Marzio Shown above

Jesus Palazzo Lancellotti V-Ponte Shown above

Madonna Near Via dei Coronari V-Ponte -

Madonna Palazzo Cesi V-Ponte -

Madonna Near SS. Simone e Giuda V-Ponte -

Madonna Torre Scapucci V-Ponte -

Madonna Opposite Tor Sanguigna V-Ponte -

Madonna Opposite Palazzo della Cancelleria VI-Parione -

Madonna S. Maria di Grottapinta VI-Parione -

Madonna Opposite Palazzo Pio VI-Parione -

S. Stefano Opposite S. Lucia del Gonfalone VI-Parione -

Madonna Piazza dell'Orologio VI-Parione -

Madonna Near Piazza dell'Orologio VI-Parione Shown above

Madonna Near Palazzo Farnese VI-Parione Shown above

Jesus Palazzo del Monte di Pietà VII-Regola -

Jesus Near Palazzo Farnese VII-Regola -

Madonna Albergo della Vacca VII-Regola -

Madonna Palazzo Teutonico VII-Regola -

Madonna Near S. Giovanni in Ayno VII-Regola -

Circumcision Near S. Eustachio VIII-Sant'Eustachio Shown above

Madonna In Piazza della Rotonda VIII-Sant'Eustachio Shown above

Madonna In Piazza delle Coppelle VIII-Sant'Eustachio -

Madonna Palazzo Patrizi VIII-Sant'Eustachio Shown above

Madonna Arco della Ciambella IX-Pigna -

Madonna S. Giovanni della Pigna IX-Pigna -

Madonna Palazzo Panfilio IX-Pigna -

Madonna Palazzo Altieri IX-Pigna Shown above

Madonna In Via del Gesù IX-Pigna -

Madonna Collegio Calasanzio IX-Pigna -

Madonna Palazzo Caetani Lovatelli X-Campitelli -

S. Francesca Romana Monastero di Tor de' Specchi X-Campitelli -

Madonna S. Maria della Consolazione X-Campitelli -

Madonna Near SS. Quattro Coronati X-Campitelli -

Madonna Near Palazzo Mattei di Giove XI-Sant'Angelo Shown above

Madonna Palazzo Mattei Paganica XI-Sant'Angelo -

Madonna S. Giovanni di Dio XII-Ripa Shown above

St Anne Former Eremitorio di S. Anna XII-Ripa -

Madonna S. Egidio XIII-Trastevere -

Madonna Near Palazzo Del Cinque XIII-Trastevere -

Madonna Opposite S. Giovanni della Malva XIII-Trastevere -

Madonna Near S. Francesco di Sales XIII-Trastevere -

Madonna Near Arco de' Tolomei XIII-Trastevere -

Madonna Casa di Sir John Leslie XIII-Trastevere -

Madonna Borgo Pio XIV-Borgo Shown above

Madonna Near Porta S. Spirito XIV-Borgo -

The images used as an icon and as a background for this page show the Madonna of Palazzo Panfilio.
Bibliography: Nica Fiori - Le Madonnelle di Roma - 1995 Newton Compton - Rome, Italy

Other Directories

Go to my Home Page on Baroque Rome or to my Home Page on Rome in the footsteps of an XVIIIth century traveller.