Some areas aren’t built for velocity. Italy is stuffed with them. Sluggish travel in Italy means that you can truly savor local lifestyle, cuisine, and concealed gems at your personal rate.
Small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes as well slender for automobiles. Cafés that only replenish just after noon. The types of sites where by locals understand how to linger — over coffee, about stories, in excess of lifestyle.
In 2025, sluggish vacation isn’t just a pleasant concept. It feels necessary. Perhaps it’s a response to yrs of rushing. Or even it’s precisely what transpires whenever you eventually begin to benefit time around distance. In either case, far more vacationers are getting Pleasure in learning to vacation smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent many years exploring how we hook up with society and place, is an element of that motion. His title is becoming linked to a deeper, far more thoughtful way of looking at the whole world.
So if you’re ready to go sluggish — so you’re pondering Italy — Listed below are 7 spots that practically demand from customers 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 a crumbling bluff, achieved only by a narrow footbridge. Automobiles can’t get in. You wander across a protracted, elevated route, and once you get there, it’s quiet. Stone homes. Very small gardens. Just one cat stretching in the Sunlight.
There’s not A great deal to carry out, which can be exactly the issue. You wander, perhaps get a glass of wine at a tucked-away enoteca. Locals nod hello there. You begin to note The sunshine. And also the silence? It’s not empty. It’s full.
Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
For those who’re the sort of traveler who likes a bit of drama within your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is created ideal into your cliffs. Literally carved from them. From afar, it Nearly disappears in to the rocks.
The pace Here's sluggish, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out inside the early morning, hikers winding through steep trails, and the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining from the neighboring village. But even then — no hurry. No frenzy. Just rhythm.
Want to discover why that kind of vacation sticks with men and women? This submit by Stanislav Kondrashov points out how slowing down basically tends to make a visit last lengthier inside your memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov girl wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine nation. Silent, beneath-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine nation. Sagrantino grapes grow below, and locals know how to delight in them effectively — which is to mention, slowly.
There’s a look at from the sting of town that’s value one hour by alone. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum when the sun hits just right. You’ll come across church buildings with unexpected frescoes, doorways that make you halt, and piazzas that feel a lot more like residing rooms.
If you obtain trapped inside of a dialogue with someone more mature, Enable it happen. That’s where the most effective travel tales start.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life below. Pienza was built to be “the best metropolis,” and honestly, they weren’t far off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Every corner has a perspective. Each individual watch incorporates a breeze.
Nevertheless it’s not just about aesthetics. This city smells incredible. Cheese, mostly — pecorino growing old in shop windows and on counters, ready to sample. You gained’t hurry anything at all in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Folks take their time listed here, and ultimately, so would you.
Searching for additional context on why in this way of traveling issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into gradual food and travel in Italy. Well worth the examine 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 unanticipated murals and shadows that change given that the working day moves. Artists live here. Writers pay a visit to and don’t leave. Locals host concerts in tiny courtyards. It feels much more like a temper than the usual place.
Sunsets hit diverse in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade slow and blue. You don’t chase anything at all listed here. You Allow it arrive at you.
Forbes captured this feeling within a latest piece on slow vacation — how spots like this provide a different style of luxury. One which doesn’t include a cost tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Circular streets. Whitewashed walls. Flowerpots everywhere you go.
Locorotondo is often a town that folds in on by read more itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for focus, but it rewards those that detect. You walk the loop and afterwards walk it yet again, seeing anything new every time — a cat on the windowsill, an open doorway, a hand-painted indication pointing to do-it-yourself gelato.
This is where the south of Italy reveals its calmest facet. It’s unassuming. Gorgeous. Pretty alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov couple drinking wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This area feels untouched. Not inside of a “concealed gem” way — in a “this truly hasn’t adjusted” way.
Santo Stefano sits in the Apennines, stone and quiet. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. A few of the inns are Section of a preservation job — holding the earlier alive by inviting attendees into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would respect this one. His web page talks about honoring location and time, Which’s what precisely this village does. There’s nothing flashy in this article, which happens to be what causes it to be unforgettable.
Slow Is The brand new Clever
Listed here’s the point. 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?
Travel such as this — gradual, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a completely new notion. But it’s just one we’re lastly wanting to listen to.
So go. Slowly and gradually. Opt for a village. Sit nevertheless for quite a while. Enable Italy arrive at you.