The Wine Windows of Florence

If you're planning a trip to Florence, you’re probably looking forward to visiting its incredible art galleries, checking out the stunning architecture, and eating all the delicious food. But tucked away in the city’s backstreets are the “buchette del vino” - the historic wine windows - and they are definitely worth a visit!

These small, often overlooked openings in the walls of some of Florence's buildings have a fascinating story to tell about Florence's medieval and Renaissance past. 

There are lots of blogs that can teach you about the history of the wine windows (check out the official page here), so I won’t do that here, what I will do is tell you where we found the best wine windows when we visited in 2024!

Of the almost 200 windows that existed in the past, only eleven remain open in Florence. We visited seven of these:

1. Giunti Odeon Library and Cinema

Piazza degli Strozzi, 2, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy

My absolute favourite wine window! 

The window is in Piazza degli Strozzi, right by the Odeon Bistro. We went there several times and each time we were the only people there!

The Odeon is in the old Renaissance Palazzo dello Strozzino, which was built back in 1457. In the early 1900s, the building was purchased by the Chiari family, who turned it into a cinema (Florence’s first), opening in 1922. 

It is now the most incredible bookshop, cinema and restaurant with spaces for music and art exhibitions, and worth exploring as you drink your wine! You can see my reel of the building here.

Their menu is red wine (€8), white wine (€8), rosé (€8), prosecco (€7), and spritz (€8).

They are open every day from 8.30am to 11pm (Fridays and Saturdays until 2am).

2. Osteria Belle Donne

Via delle Belle Donne, 16R, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy

Located the closest to the main train station in Florence (Firenze Santa Maria Novella), this is definitely the most beautifully decorated wine window that we visited!

Covered in flowers, it is an Instagrammer’s heaven, and we loved taking all our visitors to get a glass of wine from here. 

Their menu is white wine (5€), chianti (5€), chianti classico (8€), rosé (7€), prosecco (7€), Aperol / Limoncello / Hugo spritz (10€).

Unfortunately the street it is on can get quite busy, but they had a staff member out there to keep everyone off the road and to collect your empty glasses.

They are open every day from 12pm until 11.30pm.

3. Osteria San Fiorenzo

Borgo dei Greci, 1r, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy

My husband and I had a date lunch at this restaurant one day while our kids were at school and it was incredible! 

Before we went in, we had a celebratory glass of prosecco from their wine window and the lovely waitress took the awesome photo at the top of this page for us!

Their specialty is chianti, which we enjoyed with our lunch and it was incredible. 

It is located across from the Basilica di Santa Croce (the largest Franciscan church in the world, which has been around since 1228), so is a perfect place to stop after visiting the church.

They are open every day from 11am until 11pm.

4. Il Latini

Via dei Palchetti, 6R, 50123 Firenze FI, Italy

Il Latini first opened as a fiaschetteria in 1911 and the restaurant is now in its fourth generation of ownership by the Latini family. A fiaschetteria is like a  local tavern where wine was sold in fiaschi—the famous rounded wine bottles wrapped in straw.

The restaurant serves traditional Tuscan dishes, specialising in bistecca alla fiorentina (Florentine steak) and has a cute little wine window just to the right of its entrance.

The restaurant gets very busy, so I recommend booking a table in advance if you want to eat here (just show up for the wine window).

It is open on Saturdays and Sundays from 12:30pm to 2:30pm, and every evening but Mondays from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

A glass of house wine (red or white) is €5 and a prosecco is €6.

5. Ristorante Pietrabianca

Piazza dei Peruzzi, 5R, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy

Ristorante Pietrabianca is located in an ancient palace in Florence, near the Basilica di Santa Croce (just around the corner from Osteria San Fiorenzo, so if you wanted a little wine window crawl, these two are a good choice!). 

It is a fine dining restaurant which serves tasting menus ranging from five-courses for €70/person to eight-courses for €120/person, or you can order from their a la carte menu. The food looks amazing, but we didn’t get the chance to eat there.

They have a little wine window on Piazza dei Peruzzi, around the corner to the left from the entrance to the restaurant. There is a little bell for you to ring, and a huge menu of wines, cocktails and other drinks listed to the right of the window. Prices are shown below.

The restaurant is open:

Monday to Thursday: 6pm - 11pm

Friday and Saturday: 12pm - 3pm and 6pm to 11pm

But the wine window is open:

Monday to Saturday 11am – 10.30pm

Sunday: 11am - 8pm

6. Cantina De' Pucci

Via de' Pucci, 4, 50122 Firenze FI, Italy

This restaurant is located in Palazzo Pucci, one of the historic buildings of Florence, built in the 16th century, and is located very close to the Duomo. They specialise in hand-rolled pasta and also Bistecca alla Fiorentina.

The wine window is on the street right next to the tiny outdoor seating area for the restaurant. It is a very busy road, with a lot of traffic and people walking. The footpath is narrow and so there isn’t much room to relax and enjoy your wine, which is why it is so low down on my list. 

We took our spritzes across the road and drank hovering in a shop window archway, which was an experience, but yeah, not high on our list!

Wine is €7 per glass

Wednesday to Sunday Lunch 11:30am - 2:30pm

Every night dinner 6pm to 10.30pm 

7. Babae

Via Santo Spirito, 21R, 50125 Firenze FI, Italy

For many people Babae is the best wine window in Florence, but it is actually bottom of our list. 

It is located on a cute little street just south of the river and we went to go there a few times and every time there was a huge queue of people waiting to get their wine (and more importantly - their perfect Instagram shot!). 

It felt as though it was full of tour groups and just didn’t have a good vibe for us, especially compared to the others mentioned above, so each time we visited we just kept on walking. 

It gets a special mention for being the first wine window to reopen in 2019, starting this whole trend in Florence, but for us it was a thumbs down.

Their opening hours are:

Monday - Thursday: 12pm - 12am

Friday: 12pm - 2am

Saturday: 10am - 2am

Sunday: 10am - 4pm

Tips for Visiting a Wine Window

• There might be a bell, otherwise knock on the door of the wine window and someone will take your order.

  
  

• They might have a menu posted, but if not, the server will explain the options. Usually there is at least a white wine, a red wine and a prosecco, and often spritzes. 

  
  

• Every window we visited took cards rather than cash. In fact, everywhere we visited in Italy took cards so don’t stress about having cash on you!

  
  

• They may close the window while they get your drinks ready, or leave it open, but they will call out when they’re ready, so stay close by.

  
  

• You can usually ask for your drink to be served in a take away plastic cup, rather than a glass, if you want to wander away from the window.

  
  

• Speaking of this, it is totally fine and legal to wander about Florence drinking! This was such a shock for us Aussies who are not allowed to do this back home!

  
  

• It is however, important to be respectful of where you drink. Don’t block the entrance to anyone’s home or business, don’t stand in the road and don’t block the entire footpath.

  
  

• Once you have finished, you can pass the glasses back through the window or through the door of the restaurant if there is one open.

Salute! I hope you enjoy discovering these little windows as much as we did!