Florence is one of those cities that, somehow, keeps surprising and delighting us all the time with new finds. Whether it is long-forgotten historic gems or new openings, there is always something new to uncover every time you find a luxury villa in Florence, which is why it is a perfect destination for both first time visitors and repeat offenders alike. One new discovery in our office that tickled everyone’s fancy has to be the buchette del vino, which were once-ubiquitous wine windows through which one could, for a long time, pass a few coins and receive a flask of wine in return. Most are now long gone and have been out of use for even longer but there is one that has been recently reopened. If you’re planning on spending time in Florence and want to try out this unique and historic resurrected foodie experience, then head to the neighbourhood of Santo Spirito and see for yourself!
Santo Spirito is where you will find a new restaurant called Babae that opened back in August and, along with its culinary offerings indoors, brought back with it one of Florence’s buchette del vino and the Florentine tradition of buying wine through a window. These date back to the Renaissance, when many noble families of the city, who lived in the grand palazzos that still characterise the centre of Florence, had their own vineyards either just outside the city walls or off in the Tuscan countryside.
Santo Spirito is where you will find a new restaurant called Babae that opened back in August and, along with its culinary offerings indoors, brought back with it one of Florence’s buchette del vino and the Florentine tradition of buying wine through a window. These date back to the Renaissance, when many noble families of the city, who lived in the grand palazzos that still characterise the centre of Florence, had their own vineyards either just outside the city walls or off in the Tuscan countryside.
At first, they had to sell to merchants or at markets but, in 1559, Cosimo de’ Medici decreed that they could sell directly out of their palaces, increasing their profits. The documents from this decree don’t specifically mention wine windows as a concept but the idea eventually took hold. These small windows opened out onto the streets, at waist level for pedestrians, and connected directly to the storage rooms beneath the palaces, allowing the families to sell wine directly to customers who brought a jug, flask, or bottle to the window and passed money through the opening. Later, other products, such as olive oil, flour, vegetables, meat and more were sold through the same windows and the more benevolent families also provided food and wine free of charge to poor people who knocked on the door.
There were once hundreds of these special windows located across the city but, over time, as noble families moved out and hotels, businesses, apartment complexes, and more took over the buildings, the wine windows fell into disuse. They were often sealed up or repurposed, leaving just 150 today, though most are bricked up or barred shut. The single still-functioning example is the one on the façade of Babae.
When the owners decided to open Babae at its current location, the decision was sweetened by the wine window that they discovered outside the building. They realised that they had to rebirth the old practice and introduced their “L’ora della Buchetta,” an hour a day (bar Mondays, when they are closed), during which they serve glasses of wine through the window. “The window was there when we purchased the place, looking just like it is now, says one of the owners, Chiara Cati, “All we had to do was open it again, and spread the word.”
Now, when you pass by this building in Santo Spirito each evening, you will see a little crowd gathered outside the restaurant to engage in this Florentine tradition, grabbing glasses of red wine being passed through the little opening in the façade without even having to step inside the building. If you have found a luxury villa in Florence and are exploring the foodie scene of this city in Tuscany, be sure to stop by, ring the leaf-shaped bell for service, and enjoy!
There were once hundreds of these special windows located across the city but, over time, as noble families moved out and hotels, businesses, apartment complexes, and more took over the buildings, the wine windows fell into disuse. They were often sealed up or repurposed, leaving just 150 today, though most are bricked up or barred shut. The single still-functioning example is the one on the façade of Babae.
When the owners decided to open Babae at its current location, the decision was sweetened by the wine window that they discovered outside the building. They realised that they had to rebirth the old practice and introduced their “L’ora della Buchetta,” an hour a day (bar Mondays, when they are closed), during which they serve glasses of wine through the window. “The window was there when we purchased the place, looking just like it is now, says one of the owners, Chiara Cati, “All we had to do was open it again, and spread the word.”
Now, when you pass by this building in Santo Spirito each evening, you will see a little crowd gathered outside the restaurant to engage in this Florentine tradition, grabbing glasses of red wine being passed through the little opening in the façade without even having to step inside the building. If you have found a luxury villa in Florence and are exploring the foodie scene of this city in Tuscany, be sure to stop by, ring the leaf-shaped bell for service, and enjoy!
