Around the 16th century, wealthy people had started expanding their lands, especially vineyards, in the Tuscan fields. This period marked the birth of Florence’s buchette del vino, tiny doors for on-demand wine of around 1.5 feet high, set into the walls of the Florentine houses.

Around that time, the Bubonic Plague was running rampant AND the aristocrats raised the taxes on wine-selling. So, to avoid the increase in taxes and contact with others, they created a system for wine retail: literally hand-sold through a hole in the wall of their residences.

It was convenient for drinkers too, they knocked on the window with their empty bottle, and the server, a cantiniere, would answer. Upon receiving the bottle and payment, he would return with a full bottle of wine.

Buchette eventually became popular enough that nearly every Florentine family with vineyards had a wine window, and soon the trend spread to nearby Tuscan towns such as Siena and Pisa.

Currently, there is an ongoing mission to identify, map and preserve the old buchette. So far, nearly 300 have been found, restored and preserved. There was a resurgence of using these doors during covid as well.

Read more at: https://ciaotutti.nl/reizen-door-italie/florence/buchette-del-vino-wijnraampjes-in-florence/