There is much to admire in Florence but one feature is barely noticed. Cut into the walls of some of the buildings are slots some eighteen centimetres wide and 35 centimetres tall, just large enough to hold a bottle of wine and that was their purpose. The buchette del vino, wine windows, owe the origin to the decision by the Medici dynasty after their return to power in 1532, to allow landowners to sell their wine directly to the public, thus cutting out the middle man but introducing the annoyance of having the hoi polloi cluttering up their magnificent courtyards.
The wine windows solved the problem, small arched openings carved out of the façade of the home, erecting a barrier between the proprietor and the consumer. Most would have a small door and a knocker which a client would use to place their order. Their bottle would be filled, the requisite money exchanged and the customer would be on their merry way without any human contact. In a time when contagious disease was rife, this was a safe way to sell wine, as the Florentine scholar, Francesco Rondinelli, noted in his report about disease contagion, Relazione del Contagio Stato in Firenze l’anno 1630 e 1633 (1634).
No two wine windows were alike and some even had a plaque stating the opening hours and holidays of the buchetta. Orders for barrels of wine for home delivery could be placed via the windows and the sale of other produce, such as flasks of olive oil, cured legs of pork, flour, and vegetables, was transacted through them. Some charitable noblemen would use the windows as a way of getting rid of excess wine and produce while some windows were installed almost at floor level where the poor and needy could collect food or a jug of wine with a degree of anonymity.
Wine windows continued to be in operation until the early 20th century and millions of litres of wine must have been dispensed through them in their four centuries of use. Most were either plastered over or converted into mail boxes, housing for door bells or intercom systems, but, according to Buchette del Vino, a cultural association in Florence, there are some 158 extant in the historical centre of Florence, a number which increases to around 180 in the Metropolitan city as a whole.
Established as a means of controlling contagious diseases, wine windows have experienced a renaissance, partly as a result of Covid 19 which particularly ravaged parts of Italy and partly because of Stanley Tucci’s TV series, Searching for Italy, in which the actor was seen sampling wine from an opening in the wall of Babae Restaurant, one of the first to resurrect the custom in 2020 as a way of preventing the spread of disease. Now about ten or so have been put back into commission, serving glasses of Tuscan wine, food, espresso, and gelato. Restored buchette di vino can be found at Cantina de’ Pucci, Osteria Belle Donn, DiVin Boccone, Gastronomia Duomo, and other sites.
Curiously, London had its own variation of the wine window, following the passing of the Gin Act of 1736, designed to curb the consumption of gin. Captain Dudley Bradstreet is said to have hung a sign of an old tomcat outside his London establishment. Beneath the cat’s paw was a slot into which a coin could be placed. This would be a sign for Bradstreet to pour a measure of gin through a lead pipe directly into his customer’s mouth. Not quite as hygienic as the wine window, though!
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