My mini obsession is wine windows..
These tiny holes in the walls of Florence aren’t just charming historical details, they literally saved thousands of lives during the bubonic plague. They’re called buchette di vino, or “little holes of wine,” and when I visited Florence, I had to see them for myself. Because the story behind these small openings reveals something fascinating…that we’ve been doing contactless delivery and social distancing for nearly 400 years without even knowing it.
Here’s how wine windows became Florence’s first line of defense against the plague AND why the word “quarantine” itself comes from Italy.
#didyouknow #florence #pandemic #blackdeath #wine #sciencefacts #sciencenews #science #epidemiology #publichealth #infection #infectiousdisease #blackplague #bubonicplague #florence #medici
28 Comments
gurl thank u so much for these in depth shorts, LUVIT!!!! vs the other girly who jst reads a science headline & says after 10 seconds "for more optimistic science subscribe " …..luv that ur shorts hit that sweet spot between give me a quick dopamine hit vs actually tell me a well thought out short story with a beginning start & end, yet stilll leaves enuf curiosity in place that if I wana deep dive a i can, but ur platform is the PERFECT launch point. Gracias ❤
The black plague was not spread from human contact, it was spread from flees. Sanitizing coins and separation like this would not have helped.
Ummm….I'm calling bullshit. Disinfecting coins?! They didn't even know that then. They thought the plague was caused by bad humors…..meaning the air. They didn't know about viruses. Doctors didn't even wash their hands between patients because they thought water was basically poison….not from pollution or viruses the ancient world just thought water was evil. This video is COMPLETELY WRONG?
She has such a great voice!! if only my professor spoke like that then I would love to sit through anything
Never mind. Must have been hammered all day long
"Don't drink the water, drink the wine"
Sure, if you want to be drunk all the time and wake up with a hangover every morning until you die of dehydration, oh and also the alcohol content of wine isn't even enough to reliably kill germs, which people of the time didn't even know about anyway. Why is this myth so popular?
I'll buy that contact-free commerce and the quarantine policy helped slow the spread of plague, but not that people only drank wine or beer instead of water!
I love this videos so much!
Boil water: 🙅
Drink expensive wine: 🧐👍
Omg I have a black plague obsession too!!! Since childhood. Obsessed.
I vaguely remember hearing about self-server gin dispensaries in England in 1700s or 1800s due to a plague.
I wonder if the measures Florence did cut down on death from the Black Plague.
Fun fact, fleas (that spread the plague) do not like acidity. Wine, vinegar and tanning chemicals are acidic and people working with those stood a better chance to survive the plague epidemic.
A lot of people's ancestors who survived the plagues have a gene mutation called " Delta 32 " which is incredible!
I wonder if 40 days comes from the Bible?
What can we learn from our ancestors who survived ALL of the plagues?
Very Italian to add wine to social distancing
There were many moments in history when drinking alcohol was safer than drinking water. Good information relating to quarantine. The use of booze by Native Americans, was however, part of the genocide that helped create the modern day U.SA. There was simply no tolerance. That occurs over thousands of years. Otherwise alcohol has been a way of purifying liquids for generations.
Your content is probably the most consistently unique and interesting content I’ve come across!!! thank you for putting so much thought and research into every video 👏
A similar thing happened to a village in England during a plague. They got the plague (Black Death) and decided they wouldn't spread it to other people. So they isolated themselves. But they needed to buy food, so they would put coins soaked in vinegar on a stone on the boundary in return for food.
They weren't stupid unlike some people today. They knew the importance of isolating and disinfecting things.
And 💩😅
If it decimated the population it would've only taken out 10% of them..
Most entertaining and fun facts.
Its giving 2020 😭😅
Which Cosimo de Medici was it? 1630 sounds a bit late for the Black Death to be in Florence…?
Seems like Cosimo was more like a “de Medicine”.
We could have used it during the Covid 19 pandemic Alas! 😂😂
The black plague was a blood born disease past by fleas. Reduced contact would have helped but Washing coins in vinegar 100% wouldn't have made any difference.
Your channel is really great! I love etymology and appreciate the story. "Buchetta" – boca – mouth. (Little) Mouth of wine.
(And obviously quarantine) – didn't know that
I've been to Florence so many times and seen so much, visited so many places and gone on so many guided tours, but I never noticed the wine windows. Great, thanks for the info. Now I know what to look out for next time.