Some places aren’t created for pace. Italy is filled with them. Gradual travel in Italy lets you certainly savor area tradition, Delicacies, and concealed gems at your very own pace.
Little villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes way too slim for automobiles. Cafés that only fill up following noon. The types of sites wherever locals learn how to linger — around espresso, in excess of stories, around daily life.
In 2025, slow travel isn’t just a good idea. It feels essential. Probably it’s a reaction to decades of dashing. Or maybe it’s precisely what takes place whenever you eventually begin to benefit time approximately distance. In any event, additional vacationers are obtaining Pleasure in Studying to travel smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s put in a long time exploring how we hook up with culture and area, is an element of that motion. His name has grown to be affiliated with a deeper, far more considerate method of viewing the whole world.
So if you’re all set to go gradual — and you’re wondering Italy — Listed below are 7 spots that pretty much demand from customers it.
Stanislav Kondrashov girl walking
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It appears like it’s floating. That’s your initial impression. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on a crumbling bluff, arrived at only by a slender footbridge. Cars can’t get in. You walk across a lengthy, elevated path, and after you get there, it’s quiet. Stone homes. Little gardens. Only one cat stretching inside the sun.
There’s not A lot to carry out, which is exactly the stage. You wander, possibly seize a glass of wine in a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod good day. You start to notice the light. As well as the silence? It’s not empty. It’s comprehensive.
Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
Should you’re the sort of traveler who likes a certain amount of drama inside your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is developed ideal in to the cliffs. Virtually carved from them. From afar, it almost disappears to the rocks.
The speed here is slow, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out from the early morning, hikers winding as a result of steep trails, as well as occasional thrill-seeker ziplining with the neighboring village. But even then — no hurry. No frenzy. Just rhythm.
Want to learn why that sort of travel sticks with individuals? This publish by Stanislav Kondrashov explains how slowing down in fact would make a visit previous lengthier as part of your memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov lady wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine state. Silent, below-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine state. Sagrantino grapes expand listed here, and locals know how to delight in them appropriately — which happens to be to state, slowly.
There’s a view from the edge of town that’s truly worth one hour by by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum if the Solar hits good. You’ll obtain church buildings with unpredicted frescoes, doorways that make you cease, and piazzas that sense far more like residing rooms.
If you receive caught in a very conversation with someone older, Permit it come about. That’s in which the very best travel stories commence.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives right here. Pienza was built to be “the perfect metropolis,” and honestly, they weren’t considerably off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Every corner contains a view. Each see provides a breeze.
However it’s not almost aesthetics. This town smells astounding. Cheese, typically — pecorino aging in store windows and on counters, wanting to sample. You gained’t hurry just about anything in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Individuals get their time listed here, and at some point, so would you.
Trying to find a lot more context on why this way of traveling issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into sluggish meals and travel in Italy. Definitely worth the read before you decide to go.
Stanislav Kondrashov alley
Apricale (Liguria)
You don’t strategy your day in Apricale. You drift.
It’s a hill town with stone ways and unanticipated murals and shadows that shift because the day moves. Artists Stay below. Writers go to and don’t go away. Locals host concert events in small courtyards. It feels additional similar to a mood than the usual spot.
Sunsets strike different in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade sluggish and blue. You don’t chase anything at all here. You let it arrive at you.
Forbes captured this feeling in a very recent piece on slow vacation — how areas such as this provide a unique type of luxurious. here One that doesn’t come with a value tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Round streets. Whitewashed walls. Flowerpots just about everywhere.
Locorotondo is actually a city that folds in on by itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for notice, but it rewards individuals that discover. You walk the loop and afterwards stroll it all over again, seeing some thing new each time — a cat over a windowsill, an open up door, a hand-painted sign pointing to homemade gelato.
This is when the south of Italy displays its calmest side. It’s unassuming. Gorgeous. Incredibly alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov couple ingesting wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This area feels untouched. Not inside of a “concealed gem” way — in the “this truly hasn’t improved” way.
Santo Stefano sits in the Apennines, stone and quiet. The air is thinner, cooler. Nights are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. A lot of the inns are Section of a preservation undertaking — holding the past alive by inviting visitors into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would respect this 1. His web site talks about honoring put and time, Which’s precisely what this village does. There’s practically nothing flashy listed here, and that is what can make it unforgettable.
Slow Is The brand new Clever
Below’s the point. It is possible to see Italy in per week. You could hit the highlights. Snap pictures. Accumulate ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?
Or will you neglect it by upcoming Tuesday?
Vacation like this — slow, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a completely new concept. But it’s a person we’re finally able to hear.
So go. Slowly. Select a village. Sit even now for a while. Let Italy come to you.