If you're anything like me and no doubt millions of others, the plague has probably crossed your mind more than once this year.
The entire world has been forced into quarantine because of the ongoing pandemic, and even though restrictions are lifting, social distancing remains of the utmost importance until a vaccine is developed.
Now, a quirky tradition known as "wine windows" has made a comeback since it first originated in Italy during the medieval period.
These windows are also known as the "buchette del vino" of Tuscany and Florence.
The small, quite literally pint-sized windows were created to allow the safe transportation of wine (and other alcoholic beverages) during the Italian plague of the 1600s, which claimed an estimated million lives, according to Epidemics and Pandemics their Impacts on Human History.
For obvious reasons, these windows have now made a comeback to allow people to do the same thing over 400 years later.
The Wine Window Association's website reads: "Everyone is confined to home for two months and then the government permits a gradual reopening. During this time, some enterprising Florentine Wine Window owners have turned back the clock and are using their Wine Windows to dispense glasses of wine, cups of coffee, drinks, sandwiches and ice cream - all germ-free, contactless!"
Sadly, Italy has once again been ravaged by disease in 2020, with WorldOMeter reporting that there have been 249,000 confirmed cases and 35,187 deaths in the country.
In Florence and Tuscany, the wine windows are a notable part of the city's architecture, and there are upwards of 150 in the Florence's city walls alone.
Matteo Faglia, the association's president, told Insider: "People could knock on the little wooden shutters and have their bottles filled direct from the Antinori, Frescobaldi and Ricasoli families, who still produce some of Italy’s best-known wine today."
He added: "The wine windows gradually became defunct, and many wooden ones were permanently lost in the floods of 1966."
But this year, the windows have become more than a historical architectural quirk and they have opened for business once again, proving that sometimes, the past can have a use in the future too!
