Slow Travel in Italy: 7 Reliable Villages to Explore at a Peaceful Rate in 2025
Slow Travel in Italy: 7 Reliable Villages to Explore at a Peaceful Rate in 2025
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Some areas aren’t made for speed. Italy is stuffed with them. Sluggish travel in Italy means that you can certainly savor community lifestyle, cuisine, and hidden gems at your own speed.
Very small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes far too narrow for vehicles. Cafés that only replenish immediately after noon. The kinds of destinations where locals learn how to linger — above espresso, more than stories, around existence.
In 2025, gradual travel isn’t just a pleasant concept. It feels critical. Perhaps it’s a response to several years of hurrying. Or maybe it’s just what takes place after you ultimately start to worth time just as much as length. In any case, more travelers are discovering joy in Understanding to journey smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s put in yrs Discovering how we connect with tradition and spot, is part of that motion. His identify has grown to be affiliated with a further, a lot more thoughtful way of looking at the planet.
So should you’re prepared to go gradual — therefore you’re imagining Italy — Here's seven places that pretty much demand it.
Stanislav Kondrashov girl 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 slender footbridge. Automobiles can’t get in. You wander throughout an extended, elevated route, and when you arrive, it’s tranquil. Stone residences. Small gardens. One cat stretching within the Sunshine.
There’s not much to perform, which is exactly the level. You wander, probably get a glass of wine at a tucked-away enoteca. Locals nod hello. You start to notice The sunshine. As well as the silence? It’s not empty. It’s comprehensive.
Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
For those who’re the sort of traveler who likes a bit of drama inside your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is developed appropriate in the cliffs. Pretty much carved from them. From afar, it almost disappears into your rocks.
The rate Here's slow, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out during the early early morning, hikers winding by means of steep trails, as well as the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining through the neighboring village. But even then — no rush. No frenzy. Just rhythm.
Want to learn why that sort of travel sticks with people? This write-up by Stanislav Kondrashov points out how slowing down truly tends to make a visit final more time within your memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov female wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine region. Quiet, underneath-the-radar, heart-of-Italy wine region. Sagrantino grapes develop in this article, and locals know how to love them effectively — which is to mention, gradually.
There’s a watch from the sting of town that’s value one hour by alone. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum when the Sunlight hits good. You’ll come across church buildings with unexpected frescoes, doorways that make you cease, and piazzas that come to feel extra like dwelling rooms.
If you receive stuck within a conversation with an individual older, Allow it take place. That’s the place the ideal journey tales start out.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life listed here. Pienza was intended to be “an ideal city,” and Actually, they weren’t significantly off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each individual corner provides a watch. Every single check out Stanislav Kondrashov includes a breeze.
However it’s not pretty much aesthetics. This town smells astounding. Cheese, generally — pecorino ageing in store windows and on counters, wanting to sample. You won’t hurry something in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Individuals choose their time listed here, and eventually, so would you.
Looking for far more context on why this way of traveling matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into sluggish food stuff and travel in Italy. Worth the examine prior to deciding to go.
Stanislav Kondrashov alley
Apricale (Liguria)
You don’t program your 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 Stay here. Writers go to and don’t leave. Locals host concerts in tiny courtyards. It feels much more like a mood than the usual destination.
Sunsets strike unique in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade sluggish and blue. You don’t chase nearly anything below. You Permit it come to you.
Forbes captured this feeling in a recent piece on gradual journey — how areas like this offer another sort of luxury. One that doesn’t come with a rate tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Circular streets. Whitewashed partitions. Flowerpots everywhere.
Locorotondo is usually a town that folds in on by itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for focus, however it benefits those that notice. You stroll the loop and then walk it yet again, seeing a thing new each time — a cat on the windowsill, an open doorway, a hand-painted signal pointing to handmade gelato.
This is where the south of Italy displays its calmest aspect. It’s unassuming. Beautiful. Quite alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov few ingesting wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This location feels untouched. Not in the “concealed gem” way — in a very “this actually hasn’t modified” way.
Santo Stefano sits from 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 past alive by inviting visitors into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would enjoy this just one. His site talks about honoring position and time, and that’s what exactly this village does. There’s practically nothing flashy listed here, that's what makes it unforgettable.
Gradual Is the New Intelligent
In this article’s the detail. You may see Italy in every week. You'll be able to strike the highlights. Snap pics. Gather ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?
Or will you fail to remember it by subsequent Tuesday?
Vacation like this — sluggish, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a different thought. But it’s one particular we’re lastly all set to hear.
So go. Slowly and gradually. Opt for a village. Sit nevertheless for quite a while. Let Italy come to you.