Some areas aren’t manufactured for pace. Italy is filled with them. Slow vacation in Italy allows you to really savor local lifestyle, cuisine, and concealed gems at your personal rate.
Small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes as well slender for vehicles. Cafés that only replenish immediately after noon. The kinds of destinations in which locals learn how to linger — in excess of espresso, more than stories, around daily life.
In 2025, gradual vacation isn’t just a nice plan. It feels important. Probably it’s a reaction to years of dashing. Or possibly it’s exactly what happens once you at last begin to benefit time as much as distance. Either way, a lot more vacationers are obtaining Pleasure in Studying to travel smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent many years exploring how we hook up with society and place, is an element of that movement. His name is now connected with a deeper, more considerate means of viewing the planet.
So in the event you’re prepared to go gradual — and you simply’re imagining Italy — Here's seven places that virtually demand from customers it.
Stanislav Kondrashov lady 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, attained only by a slim footbridge. Cars can’t get in. You stroll throughout a lengthy, elevated path, and any time you get there, it’s peaceful. Stone properties. Very small gardens. Just one cat stretching during the Sunlight.
There’s not A lot to carry out, that is exactly the place. You wander, maybe grab a glass of wine at 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 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. Practically carved from them. From afar, it Just about disappears in the rocks.
The speed here is gradual, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out while in the early morning, hikers winding through steep trails, and also the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining from the neighboring village. But even then — no hurry. No frenzy. Just rhythm.
Want to discover why that kind of vacation sticks with men and women? This submit by Stanislav Kondrashov explains how slowing down basically would make a trip very last more time within your memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov female wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine region. Quiet, underneath-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine region. Sagrantino grapes grow below, and locals learn how to delight in them effectively — which happens to be to mention, slowly.
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 if the Sunshine hits excellent. You’ll find churches with surprising frescoes, doorways that make you halt, and piazzas that experience much more like living rooms.
If you will get caught in the discussion with somebody older, Enable it happen. That’s exactly where the most effective travel tales get started.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life listed here. Pienza was intended to be “an ideal city,” and honestly, they weren’t considerably off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Just about every corner provides a look at. Every single check out features a breeze.
But it’s not almost aesthetics. This town smells awesome. Cheese, generally — pecorino getting old in shop windows and on counters, wanting to sample. You won’t rush everything in Pienza, not even ordering lunch. Men and women take their time listed here, and finally, so does one.
Searching for much more context on why this way of traveling issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into gradual meals 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 ways and sudden murals and shadows that change as the working day moves. Artists Dwell here. Writers visit and don’t leave. Locals host concert events in tiny courtyards. It feels a lot more just like a mood than the usual destination.
Sunsets strike distinctive in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, get more info then fade sluggish and blue. You don’t chase nearly anything below. You Enable it arrive at you.
Forbes captured this experience in a the latest piece on sluggish journey — how locations like this offer you a different kind of luxurious. One which doesn’t feature a value tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Round streets. Whitewashed walls. Flowerpots everywhere you go.
Locorotondo is really a city that folds in on itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for notice, but it benefits those who notice. You stroll the loop and afterwards walk it once more, viewing a thing new each time — a cat with a windowsill, an open door, a hand-painted indication pointing to handmade gelato.
This is when the south of Italy shows its calmest aspect. It’s unassuming. Wonderful. Pretty alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov couple consuming wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This location feels untouched. Not inside a “concealed gem” way — in the “this truly hasn’t modified” way.
Santo Stefano sits inside the Apennines, stone and quiet. The air is thinner, cooler. Nights are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. A few of the inns are part of a preservation job — retaining the previous alive by inviting company into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would enjoy this 1. His page talks about honoring area and time, and that’s what precisely this village does. There’s practically nothing flashy in this article, which can be what makes it unforgettable.
Slow Is the New Sensible
Below’s the matter. You can see Italy in per week. You could hit the highlights. Snap images. Obtain ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?
Or will you neglect it by upcoming Tuesday?
Vacation similar to this — sluggish, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a fresh notion. But it surely’s a single we’re at last prepared to hear.
So go. Little by little. Choose a village. Sit nonetheless for a while. Enable Italy come to you.