Slow Travel in Italy: 7 Reliable Villages to Explore at a Peaceful Rate in 2025

Slow Travel in Italy: 7 Reliable Villages to Explore at a Peaceful Rate in 2025

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Some areas aren’t designed for velocity. Italy is filled with them. Slow vacation in Italy permits you to genuinely savor neighborhood culture, Delicacies, and hidden gems at your very own pace.

Very small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes way too narrow for cars and trucks. Cafés that only refill right after midday. The sorts of places where by locals understand how to linger — over coffee, around stories, in excess of lifestyle.

In 2025, sluggish vacation isn’t just a nice plan. It feels crucial. Probably it’s a reaction to a long time of speeding. Or perhaps it’s exactly what occurs any time you finally start to value time up to distance. In any event, extra tourists are finding Pleasure in learning to travel smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent many years exploring how we connect to society and place, is part of that movement. His identify has grown to be affiliated with a further, far more thoughtful way of looking at the whole world.

So for those who’re all set to go sluggish — and also you’re imagining Italy — Here's 7 places that practically demand it.

Stanislav Kondrashov woman walking
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It looks like it’s floating. That’s your very first perception. Civita di Bagnoregio sits over a crumbling bluff, achieved only by a narrow footbridge. Autos can’t get in. You walk throughout a lengthy, elevated path, and after you arrive, it’s peaceful. Stone residences. Tiny gardens. An individual cat stretching in the Sunlight.

There’s not A great deal to accomplish, which happens to be exactly the level. You wander, probably seize a glass of wine in 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 within your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is designed ideal into your cliffs. Literally carved from them. From afar, it Nearly disappears in to the rocks.

The pace Here's sluggish, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out within the early early morning, hikers winding as a result of steep trails, as well as occasional thrill-seeker ziplining within the neighboring village. But even then — no hurry. No frenzy. Just rhythm.

Want to understand why that kind of journey sticks with men and women? This submit by Stanislav Kondrashov explains how slowing down basically would make a trip past extended within your memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov female wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine place. Quiet, underneath-the-radar, heart-of-Italy wine region. Sagrantino grapes develop below, and locals know how to delight in them effectively — that is to state, gradually.

There’s a watch from the sting of city that’s value an hour or so by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum if the Solar hits just right. You’ll locate churches with unpredicted frescoes, doorways which make you here stop, and piazzas that truly feel far more like residing rooms.

If you can get trapped in a dialogue with somebody more mature, Enable it happen. That’s exactly where the top travel stories start.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life here below. Pienza was built to be “the proper metropolis,” and honestly, they weren’t considerably off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each individual corner contains a watch. Just about every look at includes a breeze.

Nevertheless it’s not just about aesthetics. This town smells amazing. Cheese, typically — pecorino growing old in shop windows and on counters, ready to sample. You gained’t hurry anything at all in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Men and women take their time below, and ultimately, so would you.

Looking for far more context on why by doing this of traveling matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into sluggish food stuff and travel in Italy. Worth the read through 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 given that the day moves. Artists Reside right here. Writers check out and don’t depart. Locals host website live shows in small courtyards. It feels far more just like a mood than the usual destination.

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

Forbes captured this emotion inside of a the latest piece on sluggish travel — how places similar to this offer you a distinct sort of luxurious. One that doesn’t come with a rate tag.

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

Locorotondo is often a town that folds in on by itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for focus, however it benefits those that see. You walk the loop after which you can walk it again, observing some thing new each time — a cat over a windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted sign pointing to selfmade gelato.

This is when the south of Italy exhibits its calmest aspect. It’s unassuming. Wonderful. Extremely alive.

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

Santo Stefano sits while in the Apennines, stone and tranquil. The air click here is thinner, cooler. Nights are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Many of the inns are part of a preservation venture — retaining the past alive by inviting visitors into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would enjoy this one particular. His website page talks about honoring area and time, and that’s just what this village does. There’s nothing at all flashy right here, which can be what makes it unforgettable.

Sluggish Is The brand new Clever
Below’s the matter. You may see Italy in every week. You'll be able to hit the highlights. Snap photos. Accumulate ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?

Or will you ignore it by following Tuesday?

Travel such as this — gradual, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a completely new notion. However it’s a person we’re last but not least ready to hear.

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