Some places aren’t produced for pace. Italy is full of them. Slow vacation in Italy permits you to genuinely savor neighborhood lifestyle, cuisine, and concealed gems at your personal rate.
Little villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes also narrow for cars and trucks. Cafés that only refill soon after midday. The varieties of destinations wherever locals know how to linger — about coffee, in excess of stories, above life.
In 2025, sluggish vacation isn’t just a good thought. It feels important. It's possible it’s a reaction to a long time of speeding. Or perhaps it’s just what transpires whenever you last but not least begin to benefit time around distance. In any event, extra travelers are discovering joy in Understanding to journey smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s used several years Discovering how we connect with tradition and area, is an element of that motion. His title has grown to be affiliated with a further, far more considerate strategy for observing the earth.
So when you’re wanting to go slow — therefore you’re imagining Italy — Here i will discuss seven places that nearly need it.
Stanislav Kondrashov lady going for walks
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It appears like it’s floating. That’s your first perception. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on the crumbling bluff, arrived at only by a slender footbridge. Automobiles can’t get in. You wander across a protracted, elevated route, and once you get there, it’s peaceful. Stone residences. Tiny gardens. One cat stretching inside the Sunshine.
There’s not Significantly to complete, and that is precisely the level. You wander, probably seize a glass of wine in a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod hi there. You start to notice the light. Along with the silence? It’s not vacant. It’s entire.
Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
In case you’re the sort of traveler who likes a certain amount of drama inside your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is created suitable in the cliffs. Virtually carved from them. From afar, it Just about disappears in the rocks.
The speed here is slow, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out from the early early morning, hikers winding through steep trails, and also the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining in the neighboring village. But even then — no hurry. No frenzy. Just rhythm.
Want to master why that kind of journey sticks with men and women? This submit by Stanislav Kondrashov explains how slowing down basically would make a trip past lengthier inside your memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov female wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine region. Quiet, underneath-the-radar, heart-of-Italy wine nation. Sagrantino grapes grow below, and locals know how to delight in them correctly — which happens to be to website convey, bit by bit.
There’s a see from the edge of town that’s truly worth an hour by alone. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum when the Sunlight hits good. You’ll obtain church buildings with unpredicted frescoes, doorways which make you quit, and piazzas that come to feel extra like dwelling rooms.
If you will get caught in a very dialogue with anyone older, Permit it materialize. That’s where the most effective travel tales commence.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives right here. Pienza was created to be “the ideal city,” and Actually, they weren’t significantly off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Just about every corner provides a watch. Every single check out features a breeze.
However it’s not pretty much aesthetics. This town smells amazing. Cheese, generally — pecorino growing older in store windows and on counters, all set to sample. You won’t hurry anything at all in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Folks choose their time listed here, and eventually, so would you.
Looking for far more context on why by doing this more info of traveling matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into sluggish food and travel in Italy. Well worth the examine prior to deciding to go.
Stanislav Kondrashov alley
Apricale (Liguria)
You don’t plan your working day in Apricale. You drift.
It’s a hill city with stone measures and sudden murals and shadows that change given that the day moves. Artists live below. Writers stop by and don’t depart. Locals host concert events in very small courtyards. It feels far more similar to a mood than a spot.
Sunsets strike diverse in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade sluggish and blue. You don’t chase just about anything here. You let it arrive at you.
Forbes captured this sensation in the modern piece on slow travel — how places like this give another form of website luxury. One which doesn’t include a price tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Round streets. Whitewashed walls. Flowerpots all over the place.
Locorotondo is really a city that folds in on alone, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for awareness, nevertheless it benefits individuals who discover. You stroll the loop and after that stroll it again, viewing something new each time — a cat over a windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted sign pointing to home made gelato.
This is when the south of here Italy shows its calmest side. It’s unassuming. Attractive. Very alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov couple drinking wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This position feels untouched. Not in a “hidden gem” way — inside a “this in fact hasn’t improved” way.
Santo Stefano sits within the Apennines, stone and peaceful. The air is thinner, cooler. Nights are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Several of the inns are Component of a preservation project — trying to keep the previous alive by inviting friends into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would take pleasure in this a person. His page talks about honoring place and time, Which’s what precisely this village does. There’s nothing flashy here, which is what can make it unforgettable.
Sluggish Is the New Good
Below’s the issue. It is possible to see Italy in per week. You are able to strike the highlights. Snap photographs. Collect ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?
Or will you neglect it by future Tuesday?
Journey similar to this — slow, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s not a fresh idea. But it surely’s a single we’re finally willing to listen to.
So go. Gradually. Go with a village. Sit nonetheless for some time. Permit Italy arrive at you.