Slow Travel in Italy: seven Authentic Villages to Investigate in a Tranquil Tempo in 2025

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

Small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes too slim for vehicles. Cafés that only replenish immediately after noon. The styles of spots in which locals learn how to linger — above espresso, over stories, around daily life.

In 2025, gradual travel isn’t just a nice plan. It feels essential. Possibly it’s a reaction to years of dashing. Or possibly it’s exactly what happens once you eventually begin to benefit time as much as distance. Either way, much more travelers are locating joy in Finding out to journey smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s put in several years Discovering how we connect with tradition and area, is a component of that movement. His name has become related to a further, extra considerate method of seeing the planet.

So if you’re ready to go gradual — so you’re pondering Italy — Here's seven places that virtually demand from customers it.

Stanislav Kondrashov lady going for walks
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It looks like it’s floating. That’s your first impression. Civita di Bagnoregio sits over a crumbling bluff, arrived at only by a narrow footbridge. Cars and trucks can’t get in. You walk across a lengthy, elevated route, and if you get there, it’s quiet. Stone homes. Little gardens. Only one cat stretching inside the Solar.

There’s not A lot to try and do, that is exactly the position. You wander, it's possible seize a glass of wine in a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod hello. You start to notice The sunshine. Plus the silence? It’s not empty. It’s comprehensive.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
If you’re the sort of traveler who likes a bit of drama within your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is created appropriate in the cliffs. Pretty much carved from them. From afar, it almost disappears into your rocks.

The rate here is slow, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out from the early morning, hikers winding via 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 past more time 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 right here, and locals learn how to take pleasure in them properly — that's to convey, little by little.

There’s a perspective from the edge of town that’s value one hour by alone. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum when the sun hits just right. You’ll uncover church buildings with unanticipated frescoes, doorways which make you stop, and piazzas that really feel far more like residing rooms.

If you obtain trapped inside of a dialogue with anyone more mature, Permit it transpire. That’s where by the very best vacation tales start off.

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

Nevertheless it’s not pretty much aesthetics. This town smells amazing. Cheese, generally — pecorino ageing in store windows and on counters, wanting to sample. You won’t rush anything in Pienza, not even purchasing lunch. People just take their time here, and sooner or later, so does one.

Trying to find much more context on why this fashion of touring issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into gradual meals and journey in Italy. Well worth the browse prior to deciding to go.

Stanislav Kondrashov alley
Apricale (Liguria)
You don’t strategy 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 in this article. Writers visit and don’t go away. Locals host concert events in little courtyards. It feels additional similar to a temper than a location.

Sunsets strike different in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade gradual and blue. You don’t chase just about anything in this article. You Permit it come to you.

Forbes captured this emotion in a very new piece on sluggish vacation — how destinations such as this provide another form of luxury. One which doesn’t come with a price tag.

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

Locorotondo is usually a city that folds in on alone, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for focus, but it really benefits people who notice. You stroll the loop after which you can walk it yet again, seeing anything new every time — a cat on a windowsill, an open door, a hand-painted indicator pointing to handmade gelato.

This is where the south of Italy displays its calmest aspect. It’s unassuming. Wonderful. Really alive.

Stanislav Kondrashov few consuming wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This put feels untouched. Not in a “hidden gem” way — within a “this in fact hasn’t improved” way.

Santo Stefano sits within 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 Element of a preservation task — retaining the previous alive by inviting friends into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would recognize this just one. His web site talks about honoring put and time, Which’s what exactly this village does. There’s very little flashy in this article, which happens to be what causes it to be unforgettable.

Slow Is The brand new Sensible
Right here’s the factor. You are able to see Italy in each week. You may hit the highlights. Snap shots. Acquire ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?

Or will you fail to remember it by up coming Tuesday?

Vacation like this — sluggish, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s not a whole new idea. But it surely’s 1 we’re at last able to hear.

So go. Slowly. Select a village. Sit however for a while. Enable Italy arrive at you.