The wine windows buchette del vino have been part of Florence’s cityscape since the 1500s. Back then, local wine producers used them to sell wine directly to customers, cutting out the middlemen. During the plague, they also served as a clever way to minimize contact.
Some of the wine windows are still in use today, and when we were in Florence, Steve surprised me with a little stop at one of them. He had done a bit of research and managed to track down a wine window that’s still active today.
The wine window we visited belongs to a restaurant called Pietrabianca. You ring a little bell, and a man appears in the window to take your order. We went with two glasses of sparkling rosé, which were passed to us in plastic cups through the tiny opening in the wall.
Wine in hand, we strolled through the city and ended up down by Ponte Vecchio, where we took in the river view and soaked up the good vibes. It turned out to be one of the nicest afternoons we had on the trip, and one of my favorite experiences in Florence.
Ristorante Pietrabianca, Piazza dei Peruzzi, 5R, 50122 Firenze
