In Florence there are small doors just below waist level – seemingly sized for a garden gnome. For years these doors have been largely ignored, some boarded up, some vandalised.

These buchette del vino, or wine windows, have however been experiencing a renaissance in recent months as Italy cautiously emerges from its lockdown.

There are many more serious and important things I could write about right now, but there are so few positives to the covid-19 pandemic and this charming side-effect of an international crisis seemed like the architectural light relief that is so needed at the moment.

…