THE HOLES

At a time when the health emergency requires social distancing for common security, in Florence the managers of some clubs have thought of finding the ideal solution, making a symbolic leap back in time and reopening the so-called “wine holes” with their original function. Born during the period of the plague, they were used to serve customers without coming into contact with them. An architectural expedient adopted in the seventeenth century by the Grand Duchy of Tuscany to implement a sort of remote trade. Through the window, the customer could withdraw the wine while remaining outside. So here they are, small windows on the walls of the oldest city buildings, positioned at street level, which are now being rediscovered at a time when Covid-19 has literally upset the rules of sociability, the economy and everyday life.