L'Italo-Americano

I f you spend a little time walking without rush- ing through a town – or in the countryside! – in Italy, sooner or l a t e r y o u r e y e m a y c a t c h something peculiar on the walls, or along the road. It might be a painted Madonna behind a pane of glass, a tiny statue in a niche, a framed image with a candle flickering beneath it, or a small frescoed pillar with a tiny roof and flowers underneath. They tend to appear in places where peo- ple naturally slow down, like at the corner of a street, above a doorway, near a fountain, or along a rural road where two paths cross and, if you are a local, chances are you barely notice them anymore. Yet once you begin to look f o r t h e m , t h e y s e e m t o b e everywhere. Here in Italy, we call these modest shrines edi- cole votive, and we love to think of them as something sitting somewhere between devotion, memory, and ordi- nary daily life. Now, don't think about anything grandio- se, as an edicola votiva is rarely more than a shallow niche framed in stone, brick, or plaster, protecting an image of the Virgin Mary, Christ, or a saint. As simple as it may be, the idea itself goes back a very long way, if you think that, in Roman architecture, a similar structure already existed: it was called an aedicula, liter- ally a "little temple," and it was used to display statues of g o d s o r i m p o r t a n t f i g u r e s within a protective frame. When Christianity gradually reshaped the religious land- scape of Italy, those tiny archi- tectural structures did not dis- a p p e a r , t h e y w e r e j u s t repurposed, as it often happe- ned, in those centuries, with Pagan buildings, traditions, and celebrations. Christians simply changed the figures p l a c e d i n s i d e t h e n i c h e s : instead of Roman deities, the space began to hold images of Christian devotion. Because these shrines were never confined to churches, they quickly became part of people's routines; it wasn't unusual, for instance, for a farmer walking toward the fields to take a moment before a small image along the road, and say a prayer, or for a trav- eler entering a town to glance upward at a shrine placed near the gate. In some cases, the origin of the edicole was per- sonal: they could be founded by a family marking gratitude for a recovery from illness, a safe return from a journey, or t h e f u l f i l l m e n t o f a v o w . S o m e t i m e s , s t i l l , t h e y appeared at crossroads or near wells and fountains, places where people naturally gathered or hesitated before continuing their way. In all cases, over time, these small, simple shrines accumulated until they themselves became part of the geography of a vil- lage or a road. If you travel across Italy, it's easy to notice that the tra- dition has taken on many local forms, with each region having its own name and style for these small structures. In Veneto, they are called capi- telli, and are often just mod- est roadside shrines shelter- ing painted saints. Lombardy prefers the word santella, while in Piedmont the term pilone votivo refers to pil- l a r - l i k e s t r u c t u r e s r i s i n g beside country lanes. In Tus- cany, one encounters taber- n a c o l i o r m a r g i n e t t e , many decorated with fres- coes. Emilia-Romagna has its maestà, while in Sicily and other parts of southern Italy, people speak of cone votive. The vocabulary may change, but the faith behind it – and sometimes the physical cha- racteristics of the edicole – remain the same. Cities also absorbed the habit, with Rome being per- haps the most famous exam- ple; if you take your time while exploring the older nei- ghborhoods of La Città Eter- na, you'll eventually notice images of the Virgin here and there, set high on the corners of buildings, watching over t h e i n t e r s e c t i o n s b e l o w . Locals call them madonnel- le, and many date back to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when devotion to the Madonna was especially alive. Very interestingly, in t h o s e t i m e s , t h e s h r i n e s sometimes served a practical function as well: lamps were normally installed beneath them so that the sacred image illuminated the surrounding corner at night, providing a small circle of light in other- wise dark streets. Hundreds of these shrines still exist today, enough that historians and municipal authorities have catalogued and restored many of them as elements of Rome's historical her- itage. If we move further south, things begin to change a little; in Naples, for example, the edicola votiva never feels like a r e l i c o f t h e p a s t , o r something to preserve solely from an artistic point of view. Here, edicole are still a living part of the street, some more elaborate, with glass cases, bright lights, and carefully arranged statues, others sim- pler, filled with candles, pho- tographs, or small offerings left by neighbors. Someone in the area usually takes respon- sibility for them and cleans the glass, replaces flowers, and lights a candle on feast d a y s . S e e n t h i s w a y , t h e shrine turns into a real point of connection not only for local faith but for the neigh- borhood. It is easy to think of these shrines as purely religious symbols, yet their significance often embraces more than faith alone. Many contain small works of art created by local painters or craftsmen w h o s e n a m e s a r e r a r e l y recorded; some frescoes show remarkable skill, others are charmingly simple. In either case, the artistic dimension g r o w s o u t o f t h e s a m e impulse that produced the shrine itself: someone wanted to leave a sign of gratitude or protection, and the image became the means through w h i c h t h a t f e e l i n g w a s expressed. When you think of it, these small, almost prosaic structu- res reveal an interesting, if somewhat hidden, side of Ita- lian cultural life: we tend to associate the country with its cathedrals and museums, with masterpieces that draw visitors from every corner of the world, yet devotion also found expression in these sur- prisingly humble creations. They appeared on street cor- ners, along paths between vil- lages, and on the walls of ordinary houses, in places where belief was never sepa- rated from daily life. That may be why edicole votive don't look out of place, n o t e v e n t o d a y . S o m e a r e carefully maintained, others weathered by time, their col- o r s f a d i n g u n d e r s u n a n d r a i n , y e t e v e n t h o s e t h a t appear forgotten continue to attract our attention. Someti- mes, there may be a candle burning beside them, or a s m a l l b u n c h o f f l o w e r s beneath, a gentle reminder to us passersby that these spaces still matter deeply to someo- ne. GIULIA FRANCESCHINI Small shrines, long traditions: edicole votive across Italy THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano Set against a snowy Alpine landscape, this votive shrine with statues of the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus reflects Italy's long tradition of edicole votive, small road- side shrines created as expressions of devotion or gratitude (Photo: Vividaphoto/Dreamstime.com) CULTURE LANGUAGE IDENTITY TRENDS ROOTS

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