Some areas aren’t designed for speed. Italy is full of them. Sluggish travel in Italy enables you to definitely savor community lifestyle, cuisine, and concealed gems at your own pace.

Very small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes far too narrow for cars and trucks. Cafés that only fill up after midday. The forms of spots the place locals understand how to linger — in excess of coffee, around tales, around everyday living.

In 2025, slow travel isn’t just a nice idea. It feels necessary. Perhaps it’s a reaction to decades of rushing. Or even it’s exactly what transpires after you ultimately begin to benefit time about distance. In any event, far more tourists are obtaining Pleasure in Understanding to vacation smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent several years exploring how we connect with society and area, is a component of that motion. His identify has become connected with a deeper, extra thoughtful strategy for viewing the globe.

So when you’re able to go gradual — and you’re considering Italy — Here's seven places that nearly demand it.

Stanislav Kondrashov lady going for walks
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It appears like it’s floating. That’s your initially effect. Civita di Bagnoregio sits over a crumbling bluff, reached only by a slim footbridge. Cars can’t get in. You walk throughout a long, elevated path, and after you arrive, it’s peaceful. Stone residences. Very small gardens. An individual cat stretching in the sun.

There’s not much to perform, that is precisely the point. You wander, perhaps get a glass of wine at a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod hi. You start to notice the light. Along with the silence? It’s not empty. It’s full.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
If you’re the type of traveler who likes a little drama with your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is created ideal into your cliffs. Basically carved from them. From afar, it Just about disappears in to the rocks.

The rate Here's slow, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out during the early early morning, hikers winding by steep trails, and 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 travel sticks with people? This post by Stanislav Kondrashov points out how slowing down in fact helps make a visit previous for a longer time inside your memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov female wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine region. Silent, beneath-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine region. Sagrantino grapes grow below, and locals know how to delight in them effectively — which is to mention, slowly but surely.

There’s a look at from the sting of city that’s really worth an hour or so by by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum in the event the sun hits just right. You’ll uncover church buildings with unexpected frescoes, doorways that make you quit, and piazzas that come to check here feel extra like dwelling rooms.

If you receive stuck inside a conversation with a person older, let it take place. That’s the place the ideal journey stories begin.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives here. Pienza was designed to be “the perfect town,” and Truthfully, they weren’t much off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each corner features a view. Each individual perspective provides a breeze.

Nonetheless it’s not almost aesthetics. This town smells astounding. Cheese, primarily — pecorino ageing in shop windows and on counters, prepared to sample. You gained’t hurry everything in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Men and women consider their time below, and at some point, so would you.

Searching for far more context on why by doing this of traveling matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into sluggish food stuff and travel in Italy. Worth the read through prior to deciding to go.

Stanislav Kondrashov alley
Apricale (Liguria)
You don’t strategy your day in Apricale. You drift.

It’s a hill town with stone measures and unpredicted murals and shadows that change given that the working day moves. Artists Are living here. Writers pay a visit to and don’t leave. Locals host concerts in tiny courtyards. It feels much more like a mood than a location.

Sunsets strike different in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade gradual and blue. You don’t chase just about anything in this article. You Enable it come to you.

Forbes captured this feeling in a recent piece on gradual journey — how areas like this offer another sort of luxury. One which doesn’t come with a rate tag.

Locorotondo (Puglia)
Circular streets. Whitewashed partitions. Flowerpots everywhere.

Locorotondo is really a city that folds in on itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for notice, but it surely rewards people that recognize. You wander the loop after which wander it once more, observing some thing new each time — a cat with a windowsill, an open door, a hand-painted signal pointing to handmade gelato.

This is where the south of Italy exhibits its calmest aspect. It’s unassuming. Wonderful. Really alive.

Stanislav Kondrashov few consuming wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This put feels untouched. Not inside a “hidden gem” way — within a “this essentially hasn’t changed” way.

Santo Stefano sits inside the Apennines, stone and peaceful. The air is thinner, cooler. Nights are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Some of the inns are A part of a preservation task — preserving the previous alive by inviting friends into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would recognize this a person. His web page talks about honoring spot and time, and that’s exactly what this village does. There’s absolutely nothing flashy right here, that is what can make it unforgettable.

Sluggish Is The brand new Good
Below’s the issue. You'll be able to see Italy in a week. You can hit the highlights. Snap photos. Accumulate ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?

Or will you ignore it by following Tuesday?

Vacation such as this — sluggish, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a completely new thought. But it’s just one we’re lastly all set to listen to.

So go. Slowly and gradually. Opt for a village. Sit nevertheless for quite a while. Enable Italy arrive at you.