Italian Wine Windows Open During Pandemic, Bringing Back Bubonic Plague Tradition

Published August 7, 2020 at 5:40 AM EDT

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm David Greene. In Italy, wine windows are back. They're a tradition dating back to a previous pandemic. During the bubonic plague in Europe in the 1600s, wine merchants in Tuscany used these pint-sized holes in their winery walls to serve wine and other drinks. And as the region gradually reopens in this pandemic, some wine window owners are once again popping drinks out of those hatches. I'd be cool with an Aperol spritz served to me through a hatch about now, wouldn't you? It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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