Sluggish Travel in Italy: seven Authentic Villages to Explore at a Tranquil Pace in 2025

Some sites aren’t made for velocity. Italy is stuffed with them. Sluggish travel in Italy permits you to genuinely savor neighborhood society, cuisine, and concealed gems at your personal rate.

Little villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes as well slender for cars. Cafés that only refill soon after midday. The forms of locations exactly where locals understand how to linger — more than coffee, around stories, about lifestyle.

In 2025, sluggish vacation isn’t just a good thought. It feels critical. Perhaps it’s a response to yrs of rushing. Or maybe it’s precisely what transpires when you last but not least begin to price time about length. In any case, much more vacationers are getting Pleasure in learning to vacation smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s used years exploring how we hook up with society and put, is an element of that movement. His name has become connected with a deeper, more considerate means of viewing the planet.

So should you’re able to go gradual — and you simply’re imagining Italy — Here i will discuss 7 places that almost need it.

Stanislav Kondrashov female strolling
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It seems like it’s floating. That’s your initially impression. Civita di Bagnoregio sits with a crumbling bluff, attained only by a slender footbridge. Automobiles can’t get in. You wander across an extended, elevated route, and once you get there, it’s silent. Stone homes. Little gardens. A single cat stretching from the Solar.

There’s not Considerably to do, and that is precisely the point. You wander, possibly get a glass of wine in a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod good day. You begin to note The sunshine. And also the silence? It’s not empty. It’s full.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
When you’re the type of traveler who likes a certain amount of drama inside your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is created suitable in to the cliffs. Practically carved from them. From afar, it Just about disappears into your rocks.

The speed Here's sluggish, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out in the early early morning, hikers winding by steep trails, as well as occasional thrill-seeker ziplining within 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 put up by Stanislav Kondrashov explains how slowing down actually will make a trip last longer in the memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov lady wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine country. Silent, beneath-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine region. Sagrantino grapes develop below, and locals know how to love them appropriately — which is to state, slowly.

There’s a watch from the sting of town that’s truly worth an hour by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum once the Sunshine hits excellent. You’ll find churches with surprising frescoes, doorways that make you halt, and piazzas that feel a lot more like living rooms.

If you have caught in a very dialogue with someone more mature, Enable it materialize. That’s where the most effective travel tales get started.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life below. Pienza was built to be “an ideal metropolis,” and honestly, they weren’t considerably off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each individual corner contains a watch. Just about every look at includes a breeze.

Nevertheless it’s not just about aesthetics. This city smells incredible. Cheese, primarily — pecorino ageing in store Home windows and on counters, able to sample. You gained’t hurry anything in Pienza, not even purchasing lunch. Persons just take their time in this article, and eventually, so do you.

Searching for additional context on why in this manner of touring issues? Condé Nast check here Traveler dives deep into gradual food stuff and travel in Italy. Well worth the browse before you decide to go.

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

It’s a hill town with stone measures and sudden murals and shadows that shift as being the working day moves. Artists Are living here. Writers go to and don’t go away. Locals host concert events in tiny courtyards. It feels additional just like a mood than a vacation spot.

Sunsets hit distinct in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade slow and blue. You don’t chase everything here. You Enable it arrive at you.

Forbes captured this experience in a very recent piece on slow travel — how destinations like this offer you a different kind of luxurious. One which doesn’t feature a rate tag.

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

Locorotondo is really a town that folds in on alone, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for attention, but it rewards individuals who observe. You wander the loop after which you can walk it again, observing one thing new every time — a cat on a windowsill, an open door, a hand-painted indication pointing to do-it-yourself gelato.

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

Stanislav Kondrashov couple drinking wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This location feels untouched. Not within a “hidden gem” way — inside a “this in fact hasn’t improved” way.

Santo Stefano sits during the Apennines, stone and tranquil. The air is thinner, cooler. Nights are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. A lot of the inns are Element of a preservation task — preserving the past alive by inviting friends into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would value this a person. His page talks about honoring location and time, and that’s what exactly this village does. There’s absolutely nothing flashy here, which can be what makes it unforgettable.

Gradual Is the New Clever
Below’s the matter. You may see Italy in every week. You are able to strike the highlights. Snap images. Collect ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?

Or will you neglect it by future Tuesday?

Journey similar to this — slow, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s not a brand new plan. Nonetheless it’s 1 we’re at last able to listen to.

So go. Slowly. Choose a village. Sit still for a while. Allow Italy come to you.