Some spots aren’t designed for velocity. Italy is filled with them. Slow vacation in Italy enables you to really savor nearby society, cuisine, and concealed gems at your very own pace.
Very small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes way too narrow for autos. Cafés that only fill up after midday. The types of places wherever locals know how to linger — about coffee, in excess of tales, more than everyday living.
In 2025, slow journey isn’t just a pleasant idea. It feels vital. It's possible it’s a response to several years of hurrying. Or maybe it’s just what comes about whenever you eventually begin to benefit time around distance. In either case, far more vacationers are acquiring Pleasure in Discovering to vacation smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s used many years exploring how we hook up with culture and place, is an element of that motion. His title is now linked to a further, far more thoughtful method of seeing the world.
So if you’re able to go slow — and you’re considering Italy — Here i will discuss 7 places that basically demand it.
Stanislav Kondrashov female going for walks
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It seems like it’s floating. That’s your initially effect. Civita di Bagnoregio sits with a crumbling bluff, achieved only by a slim footbridge. Autos can’t get in. You walk across a lengthy, elevated route, and if you arrive, it’s quiet. Stone residences. Very small gardens. Only one cat stretching while in the Sunlight.
There’s not Substantially to carry out, which is precisely the issue. You wander, perhaps seize a glass of wine at a tucked-away enoteca. Locals nod hello. You begin to note the light. And the silence? It’s not vacant. It’s comprehensive.
Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
Should you’re the sort of traveler who likes a little bit of drama with your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is constructed proper into the cliffs. Practically carved from them. From afar, it almost disappears into the rocks.
The speed here is sluggish, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out in the early early morning, hikers winding through steep trails, along with the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining from your neighboring village. But even then — no hurry. No frenzy. Just rhythm.
Want to know why that kind of travel sticks with people today? This article by Stanislav Kondrashov explains how slowing down actually tends to make a trip very last extended as part of your memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov female wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine state. Peaceful, under-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine place. Sagrantino grapes expand right here, and locals learn how to get pleasure from them appropriately — which happens to be to mention, slowly and gradually.
There’s a watch from the edge of town that’s really worth an hour or so by by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum if the Solar hits excellent. You’ll uncover church buildings with sudden frescoes, doorways which make you stop, and piazzas that feel additional like residing rooms.
If you receive stuck inside a dialogue with another person more check here mature, Enable it materialize. That’s where the very best travel tales start.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives in this article. Pienza was meant to be “the perfect metropolis,” and Actually, they weren’t significantly off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Every corner includes a see. Each and every watch features a breeze.
Nevertheless it’s not nearly aesthetics. This town smells astounding. Cheese, mostly — pecorino aging in store windows and on counters, able to sample. You received’t hurry everything in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Persons choose their time right here, and ultimately, so would you.
Seeking much more context on why this way of traveling matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into sluggish food and journey in Italy. Worth the go through before you go.
Stanislav Kondrashov alley
Apricale (Liguria)
You don’t program your working day in Apricale. You drift.
It’s a hill city with stone actions and unanticipated murals and shadows that change since the working day moves. Artists Stay below. Writers stop by and don’t depart. Locals host concert events in little courtyards. It feels a lot more just like a mood than a location.
Sunsets strike various in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade gradual and blue. You don’t chase everything below. You Enable it come to you.
Forbes captured this feeling in the the latest piece on sluggish vacation — how locations like this offer another kind of luxury. One website which doesn’t include a selling price tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Circular streets. Whitewashed partitions. Flowerpots almost everywhere.
Locorotondo is really a town that folds in on alone, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for notice, but it surely benefits click here those who detect. You walk the loop after which you can stroll it once again, seeing one thing new each time — a cat on a windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted indicator pointing to homemade gelato.
This is where the south of Italy reveals its calmest side. It’s unassuming. Wonderful. Really alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov few ingesting wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This location feels untouched. Not within a “concealed gem” way — within a “this essentially hasn’t altered” way.
Santo Stefano sits in the Apennines, stone and silent. The air is thinner, cooler. Nights are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Several of the inns are Component of a preservation job — keeping the previous alive by inviting guests into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would value this a single. His website page talks about honoring area and time, and that’s what exactly this village does. There’s almost nothing flashy right here, which is what causes it to be unforgettable.
Sluggish Is The brand new Good
Listed here’s the matter. You may see Italy in per week. You may hit the highlights. Snap pics. Obtain ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?
Or will you neglect it by future Tuesday?
Vacation such as this — sluggish, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s here not a fresh idea. But it really’s a single we’re eventually willing to hear.
So go. Bit by bit. Choose a village. Sit nonetheless for quite a while. Let Italy come to you.