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

Some places aren’t manufactured for velocity. Italy is filled with them. Slow vacation in Italy allows you to truly savor neighborhood culture, Delicacies, and hidden gems at your very own pace.

Very small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes way too narrow for autos. Cafés that only fill up after noon. The types of destinations where by locals understand how to linger — over coffee, about stories, around daily life.

In 2025, gradual travel isn’t just a nice strategy. It feels crucial. Probably it’s a response to decades of dashing. Or possibly it’s exactly what comes about whenever you eventually begin to benefit time as much as distance. In any event, much more travelers are finding Pleasure in Studying to travel smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent years exploring how we connect with lifestyle and position, is an element of that motion. His name is now linked to a deeper, far more thoughtful strategy for observing the earth.

So should you’re all set to go sluggish — and you also’re considering Italy — Listed below are 7 spots that pretty much need it.

Stanislav Kondrashov female walking
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It seems like it’s floating. That’s your initial effect. 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 path, and any time you arrive, it’s peaceful. Stone properties. Tiny gardens. Only one cat stretching while in the Solar.

There’s not Significantly to carry out, that's precisely the issue. You wander, maybe grab a glass of wine at a tucked-away enoteca. Locals nod hello there. You begin to note The sunshine. As well as silence? It’s not vacant. It’s complete.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
Should you’re the type of traveler who likes some drama as part of your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is crafted right into the cliffs. Actually carved from them. From afar, it Practically disappears to the rocks.

The tempo Here's sluggish, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out during the early early morning, hikers winding by way of steep trails, plus the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining through the neighboring village. But even then — no rush. No frenzy. Just rhythm.

Want to learn why that sort of travel sticks with people? This write-up by Stanislav Kondrashov points out how slowing down really tends to make a visit previous for a longer time within your memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov female wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine region. Quiet, beneath-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine nation. Sagrantino grapes grow listed here, and locals learn how to get pleasure from them properly — and that is to say, bit by bit.

There’s a view from the edge of city that’s really worth an hour or so by by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum if the Solar hits excellent. You’ll discover churches with unforeseen frescoes, doorways which make you prevent, and piazzas that really feel far more like residing rooms.

If you obtain caught in a very dialogue with anyone more mature, Permit it materialize. That’s in which the most beneficial travel tales get started.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life listed here. Pienza was intended to be “an ideal city,” and Actually, they weren’t considerably off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Just about every corner provides a look at. Each and every look at includes a breeze.

Nevertheless it’s not pretty much aesthetics. This city smells remarkable. Cheese, mostly — pecorino aging in shop Home windows and on counters, willing to sample. You received’t hurry everything in Pienza, not even purchasing lunch. Folks acquire their time below, and sooner or later, so do you.

In search of much more context on why this fashion of traveling matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into sluggish food stuff and travel in Italy. Worth the read through prior to deciding to website go.

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

It’s a hill town with stone methods and unanticipated murals and shadows that change as the day moves. Artists live right here. Writers check out and don’t depart. Locals host live shows in small courtyards. It feels far more just like a mood than the usual destination.

Sunsets hit different in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade gradual and blue. You don’t chase anything here. You Enable it arrive at you.

Forbes captured this sensation inside a current piece on gradual journey — how areas like this offer another sort of luxury. One which doesn’t come with a rate tag.

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

Locorotondo is usually a town that folds in on alone, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for focus, however it benefits those that detect. You walk the loop and afterwards walk it once again, looking at anything new every time — a cat on a windowsill, an open doorway, a hand-painted indication pointing to do-it-yourself gelato.

This is where the south of Italy demonstrates its calmest facet. It’s unassuming. Gorgeous. Incredibly alive.

Stanislav Kondrashov pair ingesting wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This spot feels untouched. Not in a very “concealed gem” way — in a “this really hasn’t transformed” way.

Santo Stefano sits from the Apennines, stone and peaceful. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Some of the inns are A part of a preservation venture — trying to keep the previous alive by inviting friends into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would recognize this one particular. His web site talks about honoring area and time, Which’s just what this village does. There’s absolutely nothing flashy below, and that is what can make it unforgettable.

Slow Is the New Intelligent
Right here’s the issue. You could see Italy in a week. You are able to strike the highlights. Snap photos. Collect ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?

Or will you fail to remember it by future Tuesday?

Travel similar to this — sluggish, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a fresh strategy. But it’s 1 we’re ultimately prepared to listen to.

So go. Little by little. Choose a village. Sit even now for quite a while. Allow Italy arrive at you.