Talk about a hole in the wall! These buchette del vino (wine windows) in Florence are the perfect tiny little portal just large enough to fit a bottle of wine. Hand me a bottle out one of these wine windows with a label that is a great design and I'm weak in the knees.
If you know me, you know that a bottle of wine with an intriguing label design wins over others.
In the 16th century wine windows became a craze as a way to avoid paying taxes on selling wine. Nearly every Florence family who owned vineyards had a wine window in their residence. Knock, hand your empty bottle through the window with payment and a full bottle of wine was returned to you.
The revival of this old tradition has led to the discovery of about 150 existing wine windows that exist inside Florence walls and another 100 plus throughout Tuscany. Prior to the recent embrace, the wine windows were boarded over, painted over - some with traditional art, some with graffiti, repurposed as doorbell posts, or hidden completely.
These lovely portals remind me of the days when milk was delivered through a small door beside one's front entrance (I actually have one of these doors at my apartment.), but wine through a door, does a body good!
The wine windows in Florence are to be found most likely at arm's height. Cin cin! Saluti!
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