Italy repurposes hundreds of years old ‘wine windows’ used during the plague for coronavirus

Multiple Italian businesses are repurposing hundreds-of-years-old “wine windows” used during the plague for the coronavirus pandemic era. 

The small, limited-exposure openings were used during the 1600s to allow sellers to continue distributing wine while keeping a safe distance, The Washington Post reported on Monday.

Florence businesses are allowing customers to pick up wine, cocktails, gelato and coffee through the long non-operational windows, Lonely Planet reported last week.

The Osteria Delle Brache restaurant and bar posted photos on Facebook showing an employee passing an Aperol spritz through the window with the caption “We continue the traditions.”

Another published photos of coffee being passed through a wine window.

The Associazone Buchette del Vino, or Wine Windows Association, records the known windows still in existence on a map, with at least 150 in downtown Florence.

Not all of the documented windows can be used to sell as some are now connected to offices and private residencies, according to the Post.

Italy was one of the earliest countries to struggle with combating the coronavirus, with high infection and death rates. Overall, the country has recorded more than 250,000 cases and at least 35,209 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.