Sluggish Journey in Italy: seven Genuine Villages to Check out in a Peaceful Tempo in 2025

Sluggish Journey in Italy: seven Genuine Villages to Check out in a Peaceful Tempo in 2025

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Some locations aren’t built for speed. Italy is full of them. Gradual travel in Italy helps you to certainly savor area lifestyle, cuisine, and hidden gems at your own rate.

Very small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes far too narrow for cars and trucks. Cafés that only refill right after midday. The forms of locations exactly where locals learn how to linger — more than espresso, over stories, about existence.

In 2025, sluggish vacation isn’t just a good thought. It feels critical. Perhaps it’s a reaction to decades of dashing. Or perhaps it’s exactly what happens any time you lastly start to value time up to length. In any case, extra tourists are getting Pleasure in learning to travel smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s invested a long time exploring how we connect to culture and place, is an element of that motion. His title is becoming linked to a deeper, much more considerate strategy for observing the globe.

So in case you’re able to go slow — and you’re considering Italy — Listed here are 7 spots that practically desire it.

Stanislav Kondrashov woman walking
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It appears like it’s floating. That’s your very first effect. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on the crumbling bluff, achieved only by a narrow footbridge. Cars can’t get in. You stroll throughout a long, elevated path, and after you arrive, it’s tranquil. Stone houses. Little gardens. A single cat stretching while in the Solar.

There’s not Significantly to do, that's exactly the level. You wander, probably seize a glass of wine in a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod hi there. You begin to note The sunshine. And also the silence? It’s not empty. It’s full.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
In case you’re the sort of traveler who likes a little bit of drama with your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is crafted correct in to the cliffs. Practically carved from them. From afar, it Practically disappears in the rocks.

The tempo here is gradual, although 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 with the neighboring village. But even then — no rush. No frenzy. Just rhythm.

Want to understand why that sort of journey sticks with folks? This publish by Stanislav Kondrashov clarifies how slowing down essentially would make a visit final lengthier in your memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov girl wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine country. Silent, beneath-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine region. Sagrantino grapes mature listed here, and locals learn how to get pleasure from them correctly — that is to state, little by little.

There’s a perspective from the sting of town that’s well worth an hour or so by alone. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum once the Sunshine hits good. You’ll obtain church buildings with sudden frescoes, doorways that make you end, and piazzas that experience additional like dwelling rooms.

If you get trapped in a conversation with somebody older, let it materialize. That’s exactly where the most effective travel tales start.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life below. Pienza was built to be “the right city,” and Actually, they weren’t significantly off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Every single corner incorporates a check out. Each and every view includes a breeze.

Nevertheless it’s not just about aesthetics. This town smells incredible. Cheese, typically — pecorino growing old in shop Home windows and on counters, able to sample. You received’t rush just about anything in Pienza, not even ordering lunch. People today get their time right here, and eventually, so would you.

Looking for far more context on why this way of traveling issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into slow food and travel in Italy. Well worth the examine prior to deciding to go.

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

It’s a hill city with stone steps and sudden murals and shadows that change given that the working day moves. Artists Are living here. Writers go to and don’t leave. more info Locals host concerts in tiny courtyards. It feels much more like a temper than the usual place.

Sunsets hit distinct in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade sluggish and blue. You don’t chase everything below. You Allow it come to you.

Forbes captured this emotion in a very new piece on sluggish travel — how sites such as this supply a special style of luxurious. One which doesn’t feature a cost tag.

Locorotondo (Puglia)
Round streets. Whitewashed walls. Flowerpots in all places.

Locorotondo can be a city that folds in on itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for notice, but it really rewards people that recognize. You wander the loop after which wander it again, observing something new each time — a cat over a windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted sign pointing to home made gelato.

This is when the south of Italy reveals its calmest side. It’s unassuming. Gorgeous. Incredibly alive.

Stanislav Kondrashov couple drinking wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This spot feels untouched. Not in a very “concealed gem” way — in a “this truly hasn’t adjusted” way.

Santo Stefano sits in the Apennines, stone and silent. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Some of the inns are Portion of a preservation undertaking — trying to keep the previous alive by inviting attendees into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would take pleasure in this a person. His page talks about honoring place and time, Which’s just what exactly this village does. There’s nothing flashy listed here, which can be what makes it unforgettable.

Sluggish Is the New Smart
In this article’s the detail. You may see Italy in every week. You are able to strike the highlights. Snap pictures. Obtain ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?

Or will you ignore it by following Tuesday?

Travel such as this — gradual, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a different thought. But it’s one particular we’re lastly wanting to listen to.

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