Buchette del Vino (Wine Windows)

Scattered across Florence's palazzi, at about knee height, you'll find small arched openings roughly the size of a wine bottle — because that's exactly what they were for. These are the buchette del vino, or wine windows, and they represent perhaps the most charming intersection of commerce, plague, and architecture you'll find anywhere.

In 1559, Cosimo I de' Medici decreed that noble families could sell excess wine from their country vineyards directly from their city palazzi. Openings were cut into the thick stone walls — about 30 by 20 centimeters, just large enough to pass a flask through. The customer knocked, slid their money through, and a servant passed back the wine. No shop, no middleman, no tax. At their peak, there were hundreds of these windows across the city.

Then came the plague. During Florence's devastating outbreaks in the 1630s, the wine windows became an early form of contactless commerce. A 1634 account by scholar Francesco Rondinelli describes sellers using the holes to avoid any physical contact with customers, even wiping coins with vinegar to prevent contagion. Four hundred years later, during COVID-19, several enterprising Florentine businesses reopened their wine windows to serve glasses of wine, coffee, and gelato — history repeating itself with an espresso twist.

Around 150 wine windows survive today, mostly in the historic center and Oltrarno. Look for them along Via delle Belle Donne, Via del Sole, Via Santo Spirito, and Borgo San Jacopo. Most are sealed shut, but a handful have been revived and actually serve drinks. The Wine Window Association catalogs and protects them — proof that Florence takes even its smallest architectural details seriously.