Toscana & Chianti News

Bacchus world

THE LONG HISTORY OF CARRO MATTO

It's common knowledge that Tuscans like drinking wine in the company of others and the long history of Tuscan wine-making has left a multitude of old traditions in its wake, which are now outmoded and mainly live on in the memories of the elderly.

The flask was the typical container for wine up until the fourteenth century. This glass recipient, also known as the Toscanello, was blown by the flask-maker, giving it its familiar pear shape with an elongated neck.

In the middle of Florence, the corner between Via Condotta and Via dei Calzaiuoli was known as Canto dei Fiascai because many of these artisans had their workshops and flask stores right there. The flask-maker not only produced the glass container (plain flask), but also covered it using swamp grass like reeds. The straw cover had the purpose of protecting the glass from breakages and, at the same time, also acted as a heat insulator, preventing alterations to the drink.

But how were all these flasks transported from the countryside? The aforesaid flasks headed for Florence and other Tuscan towns, skilfully loaded into baskets, arranged in pyramids, on long carts that were usually horse-drawn. A real art form: preparing the basket with about 2,000 fragile Toscanelli required skill and experience. Very few people were able to create that structural masterpiece. In recent times, Rufina town council is the only one keeping alive this old Tuscan tradition of the art of creating the basket. It still has a specimen reconstructed in the Vine and Wine Museum, which is shown to the public during the Bacco Artigiano event. Every year, in the last week of September, it is reconstructed thanks to the skilful work of some eager members of the Carro Matto committee and is paraded around the streets of Florence on the Saturday afternoon.

The flask was the typical container for wine up until the fourteenth century. This glass recipient, also known as the Toscanello, was blown by the flask-maker, giving it its familiar pear shape with an elongated neck. In the middle of Florence, the corner between Via Condotta and Via dei Calzaiuoli was known as Canto dei Fiascai because many of these artisans had their workshops and flask stores right there. The flask-maker not only produced the glass container (plain flask), but also covered it using swamp grass like reeds. The straw cover had the purpose of protecting the glass from breakages and, at the same time, also acted as a heat insulator, preventing alterations to the drink.

But how were all these flasks transported from the countryside? The aforesaid flasks headed for Florence and other Tuscan towns, skilfully loaded into baskets, arranged in pyramids, on long carts that were usually horse-drawn. A real art form: preparing the basket with about 2,000 fragile Toscanelli required skill and experience. Very few people were able to create that structural masterpiece. 

In recent times, Rufina town council is the only one keeping alive this old Tuscan tradition of the art of creating the basket. It still has a specimen reconstructed in the Vine and Wine Museum, which is shown to the public during the Bacco Artigiano event. Every year, in the last week of September, it is reconstructed thanks to the skilful work of some eager members of the Carro Matto committee and is paraded around the streets of Florence on the Saturday afternoon.