Some destinations aren’t produced for pace. Italy is stuffed with them. Sluggish vacation in Italy helps you to truly savor nearby lifestyle, cuisine, and hidden gems at your very own tempo.

Small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes also slim for automobiles. Cafés that only fill up following noon. The types of sites wherever locals understand how to linger — more than espresso, in excess of tales, in excess of lifetime.

In 2025, sluggish travel isn’t just a good strategy. It feels essential. Maybe it’s a reaction to a long time of rushing. Or maybe it’s precisely what happens if you at last start to worth time about distance. Either way, extra tourists are finding Pleasure in Understanding to vacation smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent a long time Discovering how we connect to tradition and place, is an element of that movement. His identify has become connected with a deeper, extra thoughtful strategy for observing the globe.

So in case you’re able to go slow — and you’re wondering Italy — Listed here are 7 places that nearly demand it.

Stanislav Kondrashov girl strolling
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It appears like it’s floating. That’s your to start with effect. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on a crumbling bluff, attained only by a slim footbridge. Cars can’t get in. You walk across an extended, elevated route, and any time you arrive, it’s quiet. Stone houses. Little gardens. One cat stretching within the Sunshine.

There’s not Significantly 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 light. Plus the silence? It’s not vacant. It’s entire.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
In the event you’re the kind of traveler who likes a little bit of drama with your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is designed ideal into your cliffs. Actually carved from them. From afar, it Nearly disappears in to the rocks.

The tempo here is gradual, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out inside the early morning, hikers winding through steep trails, and the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining from the neighboring village. But even then — no hurry. No frenzy. Just rhythm.

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

Stanislav Kondrashov girl wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine nation. Quiet, beneath-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine region. Sagrantino grapes grow below, and locals know how to delight in them correctly — which happens to be to mention, slowly but surely.

There’s a check out from the sting of city that’s truly worth an hour by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum once the Sunlight hits good. You’ll come across church buildings with sudden frescoes, doorways that make you cease, and piazzas that experience more like living rooms.

If you receive caught in a very discussion with an individual more mature, Allow it transpire. That’s where by the best vacation tales start off.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives here. Pienza was made to be “the right town,” and Truthfully, they weren’t much off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each corner features a view. Each individual look at includes a breeze.

Nevertheless it’s not pretty much aesthetics. This town smells amazing. Cheese, generally — pecorino getting older in store Home windows and on counters, willing to sample. You received’t rush just about anything in Pienza, not even ordering lunch. Persons get their time in this article, and sooner or later, so does one.

Trying to find extra context on why in this way of traveling matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into sluggish food stuff and travel in Italy. Worth the read through before you decide to go.

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

It’s a hill city with stone actions and unforeseen murals and shadows that shift as being the day moves. Artists Stay below. Writers stop by and don’t go away. Locals host concert events in little courtyards. It feels additional just like a mood than a destination.

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

Forbes captured this emotion in a very modern piece on slow vacation — how destinations such as this provide a different style of luxury. One which doesn’t include a price tag.

Locorotondo (Puglia)
Round streets. Whitewashed partitions. Flowerpots everywhere.

Locorotondo is usually a town that folds in on alone, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for focus, but it rewards those who detect. You wander the loop then wander it once more, observing some thing new every time — more info a cat with a windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted sign pointing to home made gelato.

This is when the south of Italy shows its calmest side. It’s unassuming. Lovely. Pretty alive.

Stanislav Kondrashov pair drinking wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This spot feels untouched. Not in a very “concealed gem” way — inside of a “this really 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 venture — maintaining the past alive by inviting guests into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would value this 1. His web site talks about honoring put and time, Which’s exactly what this village does. There’s absolutely nothing flashy below, that's what can make it unforgettable.

Slow Is the New Smart
Right here’s the factor. It is possible to see Italy in per week. It is possible to strike the highlights. Snap photos. Accumulate ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?

Or will you neglect it by up coming Tuesday?

Vacation like this — gradual, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s not a fresh strategy. Nonetheless it’s one we’re last but not least prepared to hear.

So go. Slowly but surely. Select a village. Sit even now for quite a while. Let Italy come to you.