Fiasco (bottle)

A fiasco (/fɪˈæskoʊ/; Italian pronunciation: [ˈfjasko]) (plural: fiaschi) is a typical Italian style of bottle, usually with a round body and bottom, partially or completely covered with a close-fitting straw basket.

The basket is typically made of , a swamp weed, sun-dried and blanched with sulfur. The basket provides protection during transportation and handling, and also a flat base for the container. Thus the glass bottle can have a round bottom, which is much simpler to make by glass blowing.

Fiaschi can be efficiently packed for transport, with the necks of upturned bottles safely tucked into the spaces between the baskets of upright ones.

Boccaccio mentions the fiasco in the Decameron (around 1350), as a receptacle for red wine; and administrative documents of the time mention the profession of fiascaio ("fiasco-maker"). Common fiasco sizes of the time were the quarto ("quarter", 5.7 liters), mezzo quarto ("half quarter", 2.28 liters), and metadella ("small half", 1.4 liters).

It is not known, however, when the straw covering was introduced. A 14th century painting by Tomaso da Modena shows a small rounded flask, completely wrapped with cords of some kind. Other artistic depictions were provided by Botticelli (Banchetto per Nastagio degli Onesti) and Ghirlandaio (Buonomini di San Martino and The Birth of John the Baptist). The earliest fragments of sala-covered bottles date from the 15th century.

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