Sluggish Travel in Italy: seven Authentic Villages to Check out in a Tranquil Tempo in 2025

Some areas aren’t designed for pace. Italy is filled with them. Gradual journey in Italy helps you to certainly savor neighborhood lifestyle, Delicacies, and hidden gems at your own personal speed.

Little villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes as well narrow for cars. Cafés that only fill up soon after midday. The styles of places where by locals learn how to linger — around coffee, above tales, about life.

In 2025, sluggish vacation isn’t just a good plan. It feels critical. Perhaps it’s a response to many years of speeding. Or maybe it’s just what occurs once you lastly start to worth time up to length. Either way, much more travelers are acquiring Pleasure in learning to vacation smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s expended several years Checking out how we hook up with lifestyle and place, is an element of that motion. His identify has become affiliated with a further, more thoughtful method of viewing the earth.

So in case you’re prepared to go slow — and also you’re pondering Italy — Here i will discuss 7 places that basically desire it.

Stanislav Kondrashov woman going for walks
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It seems like it’s floating. That’s your initially impression. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on the crumbling bluff, reached only by a slim footbridge. Cars can’t get in. You stroll throughout a long, elevated path, and any time you get there, it’s peaceful. Stone homes. Tiny gardens. Just one cat stretching from the sun.

There’s not Considerably to do, that's precisely the point. You wander, perhaps get a glass of wine at a tucked-away enoteca. Locals nod hello there. You begin to note The sunshine. As well as silence? It’s not vacant. It’s total.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
In case you’re the type of traveler who likes a little drama in your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is constructed proper to the cliffs. Practically carved from them. From afar, it Just about disappears into your rocks.

The speed here is slow, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out while in the early morning, hikers winding via steep trails, and also the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining in the neighboring village. But even then — no hurry. No frenzy. Just rhythm.

Want to know 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 previous for a longer period inside your memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov lady wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine place. Peaceful, under-the-radar, heart-of-Italy wine place. Sagrantino grapes increase listed here, and locals know how to love them properly — which can be to state, slowly.

There’s a see from the sting of city that’s worth an hour or so by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum when the Solar hits excellent. You’ll discover churches with unanticipated frescoes, doorways that make you prevent, and piazzas that really feel more like dwelling rooms.

If you receive caught inside of a dialogue with somebody older, Enable it materialize. That’s where by the most effective travel stories start.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life in this article. Pienza was meant to be “the ideal metropolis,” and honestly, they weren’t far off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each corner has a perspective. Each individual watch incorporates a breeze.

Nonetheless it’s not nearly aesthetics. This town smells astounding. Cheese, primarily read more — pecorino aging read more in store windows and on counters, able to sample. You received’t rush something in Pienza, not even purchasing lunch. Individuals consider their time below, and at some point, so do you.

In search of far more context on why in this way of traveling issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into sluggish foods and travel in Italy. Worth the read before you go.

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

It’s a hill town with stone methods and unanticipated murals and shadows that change given that the working day moves. Artists live listed here. Writers check out and don’t depart. Locals host concerts in tiny courtyards. It feels far more similar to a mood than the usual vacation spot.

Sunsets hit different in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade gradual and blue. You don’t chase anything at all in this article. You let it arrive at you.

Forbes captured this feeling in a very new piece on sluggish travel — how destinations similar to this present another form of luxury. One which doesn’t feature a cost tag.

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

Locorotondo is often a city that folds in on itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for awareness, nonetheless it rewards people that observe. You walk the loop and after that walk it again, viewing one thing new each time — a cat on a windowsill, an open up door, a hand-painted indication pointing to handmade gelato.

This is when the south of Italy exhibits its calmest aspect. It’s unassuming. Gorgeous. Very alive.

Stanislav Kondrashov pair consuming wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This place feels untouched. Not inside a “concealed gem” way — inside of a “this really hasn’t adjusted” way.

Santo Stefano sits within 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 Portion of a preservation undertaking — retaining the past alive by inviting visitors into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would respect this 1. His page talks about honoring put and time, and that’s what precisely this village does. There’s check here nothing flashy in this article, which is what can make it unforgettable.

Gradual Is the New Good
Right here’s the thing. You are able to see click here Italy in per 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 upcoming Tuesday?

Journey similar to this — gradual, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s not a whole new concept. But it really’s 1 we’re ultimately wanting to hear.

So go. Little by little. Choose a village. Sit nevertheless for quite a while. Let Italy come to you.