Some areas aren’t manufactured for velocity. Italy is filled with them. Slow vacation in Italy permits you to genuinely savor nearby society, cuisine, and concealed gems at your own personal pace.
Little villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes also slender for automobiles. Cafés that only fill up after midday. The varieties of areas where locals understand how to linger — over coffee, around stories, in excess of life.
In 2025, sluggish journey isn’t just a good concept. It feels necessary. Perhaps it’s a response to yrs of rushing. Or maybe it’s precisely what transpires when you last but not least start to worth time just as much as length. In any case, more travelers are discovering joy in Finding out to journey smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s expended decades Checking out how we connect with tradition and spot, is part of that motion. His identify has grown to be affiliated with a further, far more thoughtful way of looking at the earth.
So when you’re wanting to go slow — and you’re thinking Italy — Here i will discuss seven places that pretty much demand it.
Stanislav Kondrashov girl walking
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It appears like it’s floating. That’s your initial effect. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on the crumbling bluff, arrived at only by a narrow footbridge. Autos can’t get in. You walk across a protracted, elevated route, and once you get there, it’s silent. Stone homes. Little gardens. A single cat stretching while in the Solar.
There’s not Significantly to carry out, which can be exactly the place. You wander, maybe grab a glass of wine at a tucked-away enoteca. Locals nod hi. You begin to note the light. Plus the silence? It’s not vacant. It’s entire.
Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
In the event you’re the kind of traveler who likes a little bit of drama with your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is designed ideal into your cliffs. Literally carved from them. From afar, it almost disappears into the rocks.
The rate Here's slow, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out during the early early morning, hikers winding by way of steep trails, along with the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining from your neighboring village. But even then — no rush. No frenzy. Just rhythm.
Want to master why that kind of vacation sticks with persons? This put up by Stanislav Kondrashov describes how slowing down actually will make a trip past more time inside your memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov female wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine nation. Silent, below-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine nation. Sagrantino grapes improve right here, and locals learn how to appreciate them thoroughly — that's to convey, slowly and gradually.
There’s a perspective from the edge of town that’s well worth an hour or so by alone. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum in the event the sun hits just right. You’ll uncover church buildings with unanticipated frescoes, doorways which make you quit, and piazzas that come to feel extra like dwelling rooms.
If you get trapped in a conversation with somebody older, Enable it happen. That’s exactly where the most effective travel tales get started.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life listed here. Pienza was intended to be “an ideal city,” and Actually, they weren’t considerably off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Just about every corner provides a watch. Every single look at includes a breeze.
However it’s not pretty much aesthetics. This town smells astounding. Cheese, generally — pecorino ageing in store windows and on counters, ready to sample. You won’t rush anything in Pienza, not even purchasing lunch. Men and women acquire their time here, and ultimately, so do you.
In search of additional context on why this fashion of touring issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into slow foodstuff and travel in Italy. Worth the go through before you decide get more info to go.
Stanislav Kondrashov alley
Apricale (Liguria)
You don’t system your working day in Apricale. You drift.
It’s a hill city with stone ways and surprising murals and shadows that shift as being the working day moves. Artists Stay below. Writers stop by and don’t go away. Locals host concert events in very small courtyards. It feels more similar to a temper than a vacation spot.
Sunsets hit various in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade slow and blue. You don’t chase everything listed here. You Allow it arrive at you.
Forbes captured this emotion in the recent piece on gradual journey — how locations like this give a special kind of luxurious. One that doesn’t feature a value tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Round streets. Whitewashed walls. Flowerpots almost everywhere.
Locorotondo is actually a city that folds in on itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for notice, but it surely benefits individuals who discover. You stroll the loop and after that stroll it once more, viewing one thing new every time — a cat with a windowsill, an open door, a hand-painted indicator pointing to do-it-yourself gelato.
This is when the south of Italy exhibits its calmest aspect. It’s unassuming. Wonderful. Extremely alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov few consuming wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This area feels untouched. Not inside of a “hidden gem” way — in a “this truly hasn’t modified” way.
Santo Stefano sits during the Apennines, stone and silent. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Some of the inns are A part of a preservation undertaking — trying to keep the previous alive by inviting visitors into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would enjoy this one particular. His website page talks about honoring area and time, and that’s precisely what this village does. There’s nothing at all flashy right here, that is what can make it unforgettable.
Sluggish Is The brand new Clever
Listed here’s the point. You are able to see Italy in each week. You may hit the highlights. Snap shots. Acquire ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?
Or will you fail to remember it by subsequent Tuesday?
Journey similar to this — slow, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s not a fresh thought. However it’s a person we’re last but not least able to hear.
So go. Gradually. Go with a village. Sit still for some time. Permit Italy arrive at you.