The Via dei Querceti is a side street connecting the Via di San Giovanni in Laterano and the Via Annia in the Celio district in Rome. The most interesting attraction is the Madonnella on the corner with the Via dei SS. Quattro. The street runs partly along the back of the Basilica dei Santi Quattro Coronati.
A brief history of the Via dei Querceti in Rome
The Via dei Querceti owes its name to the oak forest that used to grow on the Celio Hill. The original name of this hill was Mons Querquetulanus.
The Madonnella (a Madonnella is a street shrine, usually on a corner, meant to to protect passers-by) is one of the oldest of its kind in Rome. The shrine contains a, rather damaged, “Enthroned Madonna and Child” fresco. It is thought to date back to the 15th century.
Since the shrine is on street level, it is protected by a cast iron gate. This is quite unusual, because Madonnelle are usually attached higher up.
The spot has historical significance. In the early 9th century, a young woman from Mainz, who had managed to pass herself off as a man, became a priest and was eventually even elected Pope Giovanni VIII. All went well until she fell in love with her secretary and became pregnant. On the way to the Basilica of St. John Lateran during a procession, she gave birth to a son, but neither mother nor child survived. The shrine was placed here in order to purify the spot where this happened.
In reality, none of this ever really happened of course. This did however not stop the birth of another legend. A special marble throne, with a hole in the seat and another one in the side, was supposed to have been placed in the atrium of the Basilica of St. John Lateran. The youngest cardinal could thus ascertain the newly elected pontiff’s gender.