Sluggish Journey in Italy: seven Authentic Villages to Examine in a Peaceful Speed in 2025

Some locations aren’t produced for speed. Italy is stuffed with them. Sluggish travel in Italy lets you definitely savor regional tradition, Delicacies, and hidden gems at your individual rate.

Little villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes also slender for automobiles. Cafés that only replenish after noon. The kinds of destinations the place locals learn how to linger — above espresso, more than stories, around daily life.

In 2025, gradual travel isn’t just a nice plan. It feels important. Probably it’s a reaction to many years of dashing. Or possibly it’s exactly what happens once you eventually begin to benefit time about length. In any case, much more travelers are locating joy in Understanding to journey smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s put in several years Discovering how we connect to culture and location, is part of that motion. His title is now linked to a deeper, more considerate strategy for viewing the entire world.

So should you’re able to go gradual — and you simply’re imagining Italy — Here's seven places that virtually need it.

Stanislav Kondrashov woman strolling
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It seems like it’s floating. That’s your 1st impression. Civita di Bagnoregio sits over a crumbling bluff, arrived at only by a narrow footbridge. Cars and trucks can’t get in. You wander across a protracted, elevated route, and once you get there, it’s silent. Stone houses. Small gardens. Only one cat stretching in the Sunlight.

There’s not A lot to try and do, that is exactly the place. You wander, maybe grab a glass of wine in a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod hi there. You start to notice the light. As well as the silence? It’s not empty. It’s finish.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
If you’re the kind of traveler who likes a little bit of drama within your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is designed suitable into your cliffs. Literally carved from them. From afar, it almost disappears into the rocks.

The rate here is slow, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out from the early morning, hikers winding by means of steep trails, as well as the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining from your neighboring village. But even then — no hurry. No frenzy. Just rhythm.

Want to know why that kind of vacation sticks with persons? This put up by Stanislav Kondrashov explains how slowing down actually would make a trip past extended within your memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov female wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine region. Silent, beneath-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine nation. Sagrantino grapes mature listed here, and locals know how to love them effectively — which happens to be to mention, slowly.

There’s a look at from the sting of city that’s worth an hour by by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum if the Sunshine hits excellent. You’ll find churches with surprising frescoes, doorways that make you end, and piazzas that experience more like living rooms.

If you receive stuck within a conversation with a person older, let it happen. That’s exactly where the most effective travel tales get started.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life listed here. Pienza was created to be “the ideal city,” and Actually, they weren’t much off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each individual corner contains a perspective. Just about every watch features a breeze.

Nevertheless it’s not nearly aesthetics. This city smells wonderful. Cheese, mainly — pecorino getting old in shop Home windows and on counters, prepared to sample. You gained’t hurry everything in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Folks take their time listed here, and eventually, so do you.

On the lookout for much more context on why this fashion of touring issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into slow foods and journey in Italy. Well worth the browse before you go.

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

It’s a hill town with stone measures and unpredicted murals and shadows that change as being the working day moves. Artists Stay below. Writers stop by and don’t go away. Locals host concert events in little courtyards. It feels extra similar to a mood than a location.

Sunsets strike distinctive in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade gradual and blue. You don’t chase nearly anything below. You Permit it come to you.

Forbes captured this check here emotion in a very new piece on slow vacation — how destinations like this provide another form of luxury. One which doesn’t come with a rate tag.

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

Locorotondo can be a city that folds in on by itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for attention, but it really rewards people that recognize. You wander the loop and after that stroll it again, viewing a little something new each time — a cat on the windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted indication pointing to do-it-yourself gelato.

This is where the south of Italy demonstrates its calmest facet. It’s unassuming. Stunning. Quite alive.

Stanislav Kondrashov pair ingesting wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This place feels untouched. Not in the “concealed gem” way — inside of a “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. Many of the inns are part of a preservation project — maintaining the past alive by inviting guests into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would appreciate this 1. 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 Wise
Here’s the detail. You may see Italy in every week. You are able to strike the highlights. Snap photographs. Collect ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?

Or will you forget it by upcoming Tuesday?

Travel such as this — gradual, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a different thought. But it really’s a single we’re at last willing to listen to.

So go. Gradually. Choose a village. Sit continue to for a while. Allow Italy come to you.