There are over 180 of these architectural curiosities known as Buchette or “Wine Doors” in Florence.
Wine windows or buchette del vino are one of my favorite relics of old Florence. If you've been to the city, you might not have noticed them dotted around the centre. Nearly 200 of them have been rediscovered in the historical center, the oldest dating back to the 1500s.
In recent years, some of these wine doors have been restored and reopened, giving curious travelers the chance to ring the bell and order their own glass of wine, delivered literally via a hole in the wall.
These buchette represent some of Florence’s most peculiar history and are definitely worth learning about if you're planning a trip to the city.
Post pandemic, they became one of the most popular attractions in Florence - thanks in part to Stanley Tucci - with countless tourists lining up down city streets and alleys waiting for their turn for a sip of history. Curious to experience the best without the lines? Check out our Wine Window Food Tour of Florence!
Buchette del vino are totally unique to Tuscany and aren’t seen anywhere else in the world, at least originally
So what are the origins of Florence’s wine windows?
In this post, we share a guide on what to order at one of Florence’s buchette del vino (wine doors or wine windows) as well as a little bit of history and background.
For a deep dive into these portal's history and to learn about Tuscany's wine legacies with traditional foods and sommelier-approved wines at Florence’s best wine windows, join our Wine Window Food Tour of Florence!
On this themed food tour in Florence, you’ll be led by a specialized expert to discover Florence’s wine windows alongs with wines, traditional gourmet appetizers and small plates. Think of it as an afternoon historic food tour with wine tastings, culture and architecture!
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The buchette del vino were little hatches originally used to sell wine direct to Florence’s residents.
History of Florence’s Buchette del Vino (wine windows)
The origins of Florence’s Buchette del Vino (wine windows) can be traced back to the middle of the sixteenth century. Florence’s Duke Cosimo I de Medici decreed that only the owners of vineyards and wine producers could now personally sell their tipple directly to customers tax-free.
Keen to take the Medici up on their largesse, many noble wine-producing families began fitting their Florentine palazzos with a buchetta through which they could sell their own wine to the public. People would knock on the door, which would be opened by a server, a cantiniere and hand over the flask they had brought with them. The vendor would rinse the fiasco or flask, fill it with wine, hand it over and receive money in exchange.
At one point, hundreds of these portals were in use around Tuscany, but when the culture around purchasing wine changed in the early 20th century, many become defunct. Quite a few were permanently damaged in the terrible floods of 1966, while others were sealed during building renovations or lost when their palazzos were knocked down and replaced by modern buildings post-WWII.
But don’t despair! Over 180 wine doors remain within Florence's old city walls alone, with many more across the region. A full map can be found on the Buchette del Vino website. We visit the best wine windows on our food tours in Florence.
Buchette were used to sell wine-to-go during the Renaissance period, and were intended to be cheaper, direct-to-consumer alternatives.
Buchette del Vino and Florence’s red light district
If you do have a look at that Buchette del Vino map, you might notice a few of Florence’s wine doors are in one of city’s former red light districts, a one stop block you could say for certain aforementioned indulgent Medici family members.
Known as the Via delle Belle Donne (The Street of Beautiful Women), this part of Florence has been one of the hubs of the buchetta business. To build one, an entire stone had to be removed from the existing palazzo wall before a buchetta-shaped metal frame was inserted.
At the end of Via delle Belle Donne, you can still see a marble plaque with the opening times for one of the red light district’s most popular wine door. Business had become so brisk that it became necessary to stop potential buyers from knocking on the doors out of hours. The only exceptions were for women who were about to give birth or for soldiers about to go off on a mission.
These days you can get any wine from the menu
What to order from Florence’s Buchette del Vino
The wine doors were nicknamed “trebbiano holes”, which is a native grape for simple white wines. If you want to do as the Renaissance winos did, order a chilled glass of Trebbiano and ditch the spritz.
If you’re a red wine fan- stick to our pride and joy sangio. Sangiovese is Tuscany’s most planted grape. It is coveted for its balanced acidity and intensely concentrated flavors of black cherry, plum, red currant, and aromas such licorice, and violets.
The first written reference to Sangiovese dates back centuries and the name “Chianti” first appeared in the 13th century. In the 14th century, the Florentine Republic identified the hills between Florence and Siena as Chianti, where we visit on this culinary wine adventure outside the city. It eventually became the world’s first legally demarcated wine region in the early 1700s, made official by the Grand Duke of Tuscany and Cosimo I de Medici’s descendent, Cosimo III.
The wine doors were designed for bottles sold in those straw-covered flasks we now associate with old-school Italian restaurants in the States. Florence’s Buchette del Vino had to be tall and wide enough for one of those flasks to fit through.
Of course, you can order other wines. Most of Florence’s modern wine doors have adopted a one-price-fits-all policy, so 8-9 euro scores you a quality glass of something. Inevitably most customers, opt for a spritz, but it’s not something very local. For starters, the Aperol Spritz was invented by Aperol in the 1950s in Padua, located in the country’s north.
But more importantly, it’s a different drinking experience - one served at a bar with snacks, not through a wine door, which is why we recommend sticking to a glass of wine at the wine doors. Not only is more traditional, but it’s also most likely not be the best spritz mixed and hardly the best in Florence! Want to learn where to get the best cocktails in Florence? Check out our Aperitivo Tour.
Want to learn and taste more? Join our small group wine window gourmet walks held weekly or inquire to arrange a private experience.
What to eat from Florence’s Wine Windows aka Buchette del Vino
At most wine windows in Florence only drinks are served. The system is pretty simple. Just ring the bell and the modern equivalent of a cantiniere opens the wine door, takes your payment in cash or card, closes the door again, pours your order and delivers the drinks. It’s a hell of a money-spinner with most places serving hundreds of glasses a day.
But! In terms of traditional snacks served alongside wine, I read a really interesting historical tidbit recently. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, wine sellers would serve food packed with fennel to customers tasting wines they were considering buying. They did this to impair the buyers’ ability to perceive the aromas and flavors of the wine.
The first known mention of fennel used to deceive wine buyers dates back to the 15th century and can be seen in Corniolo Della Cornia’s La divina villa. Walnuts and cheese were used for similar reasons, so perhaps these are the roots of the modern cheese board?
On our Wine Window Food Tour of Florence, we enjoy our wines with plenty of cheese and cured meats including finocchiona, a salami is made from the classic combination of pork and whole fennel seeds. Sweet, perfumed, and complex, it’s traditionally served with white wine in Florence. We also try Tonno del Chianti, which is Tuscany’s answer to pulled pork. It looks like canned tuna, hence the name, but it’s actually slow cooked pork. In the olden days, before fridges and freezers, Chianti’s farmers would preserve the meat of young pigs in this way.
