Florence Airport

An airport with a rooftop vineyard? Yes, please.

Airport Terminals, ,

The Stuck at the Airport design team is all about airports of the future and the unusual amenities that can be incorporated into airport terminals.

And they were delighted when Rafael Viñoly Architects sent over the renderings for the design of the new international terminal at Aeroporto Amerigo Vespucci (FLR) in Florence, Italy.

The airport is in the heart of Italy’s wine country and the new terminal will incorporate a 19-acre vineyard.

The airport vineyard will feature 38 rows of vineyards on the building’s rooftop, to be cultivated by a vintner from the region and to provide thermal insulation for the terminal building.

Better yet, the wine from the airport’s rooftop vineyard will be aged on-site, in cellars below the area where the ground begins to slope up to become the terminal’s roof.

It may take a while for the airport wine to be ready. But when it is, the Stuck at the Airport team will be there to raise a glass.

Images courtesy ©Rafael Viñoly Architects

Souvenir Sunday at Frankfurt & Austin Bergstrom Int’l Airports

Souvenir Sunday, Souvenirs, , ,

Today is Souvenir Sunday – a day to look at some of the fun things you can buy – or just look at – when you’re stuck at the airport.

This week’s treats come from Frankfurt Airport, where I ended up spending the night on my way home from a visit to Florence, Italy, where I spotted these champagne cork-shaped seats at a bar in the Amerigo Vespucci Airport (FLR).

At the Frankfurt Airport, I came across plenty of Christmas-themed souvenirs, including nutcrackers and ornaments shaped like pickles. Why pickles? Evidently the tradition of hiding a pickle-shaped ornament in your Christmas tree and giving an extra present to the first person who finds it orginated in Germany.

And lucky travelers on one special Southwest Airlines flight from Austin Bergstrom International Airport to Chicago last Thursday got some great souvenirs.

The airline teamed up with Austin-based jeweler Kendra Scott and gave all passengers on the flight a free drink, goodie bags and gift boxes filled with – you guessed it – jewelry! – at baggage claim delivered by a yellow-clad Santa.

If you see a great souvenir when you’re stuck at the airport, please take a photo and send it along. If your photo is featured on Souvenir Sunday I’ll send you an aviation-themed souvenir.