Italy's Wine Windows Are Just Big Enough For Someone To Hand You A Glass

What do people living in the 2020s have in common with 17th-century Florentines? Living through a pandemic, one where the primary rule was social distancing.

When the bubonic plague (which had a surprise reappearance in 2019) arrived in Florence in 1634, merchants served wine out of small windows to limit physical contact and prevent the spread of the plague. Many of the "buchette del vino," or wine windows, are still in existence today. A wine window is a hole in a building's outer wall that is just slightly larger than the size of a bottle of wine. Some have mini doors that can open and close shop, and others have bells for thirsty customers to ring.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, one wine window was in business. Gradually, three more started serving customers. However, once the pandemic hit the world in 2020, causing social isolation reminiscent of the bubonic plague, Italy's wine windows began to breathe new life.

In 2015, three people from Florence jump-started the Wine Windows Association in an effort to cement their place in Italian history. Though no historical record exists of the amount of the holes, the association performed their own count. Some of the windows have been removed or filled in, but the association reported that 150 exist inside the old city walls and that more than 100 more are dispersed throughout the Tuscany region.

After their initial peak during the Black Death, the windows slowly lost their use, and some have been destroyed by major weather events that struck the city since the 17th century. The wine windows' resurgence after the pandemic sparked a modernization of the business. Now, some of the wine-serving holes sell coffee and gelato. Others serve modern, trendy cocktails like an Aperol spritz. Certain windows harken back to Florentine tradition and serve only wine.

The wine window has become a sought-after activity for tourists because of its small size (measuring less than a foot in both width and height) and alluring mode of service. But let's hope they don't cause further congestion in Florence's cobblestone streets, which has already led the government to ban eating on certain sidewalks.