What does vintage really mean?

Vintage in the collective imagination is certainly in the first instance associated to fashion: second hand clothes such as those you can find at the flea markets or in well known shops specializing in the search for designer clothes from the most important fashion houses.

But let’s go back to the etymology of the word: vintage is an English term that comes from the ancient French vendenge or vintage harvest (from which vintage wine) with reference to the fine French wines called vintage when the bottle is exceptional.

But there is also a widespread idea that vintage comes from vingt, which is the number 20 in French for which items older than twenty years of age would be vintage. However, we have not found this definition in the main Italian and international dictionaries so we exclude it.

So what is vintage?
Remaining faithful to the etymology of the word, is vintage any valuable item belonging to a past era characterized by its uniqueness and the value that derives from it. In this way, we will find clothes, machines and furniture of all kinds that once again feed contemporary tastes and styles.

In Italian it could be translated as “vintage” but the feeling is that the term vintage has entered our vocabulary to all intents and purposes and that the vintage pieces are simply “timeless” always ready to bloom in another setting.