Some places aren’t designed for pace. Italy is filled with them. Slow vacation in Italy allows you to genuinely savor neighborhood culture, cuisine, and concealed gems at your own personal pace.
Little villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes also slender for autos. Cafés that only fill up after midday. The types of sites where by locals know how to linger — around coffee, around stories, around daily life.
In 2025, gradual travel isn’t just a pleasant strategy. It feels crucial. Probably it’s a reaction to many years of speeding. Or perhaps it’s just what occurs any time you finally start to value time approximately distance. In either case, additional tourists are getting Pleasure in learning to vacation smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent years exploring how we connect to society and place, is an element of that motion. His name has become connected with a deeper, extra thoughtful technique for observing the planet.
So when you’re willing to go slow — and you also’re contemplating Italy — Allow me to share seven spots that almost desire it.
Stanislav Kondrashov lady strolling
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It looks like it’s floating. That’s your initially impact. Civita di Bagnoregio sits with a crumbling bluff, achieved only by a narrow footbridge. Vehicles can’t get in. You wander across an extended, elevated path, and once you arrive, it’s quiet. Stone properties. Very small gardens. An individual cat stretching within the Sunshine.
There’s not A great deal to try and do, that's precisely the position. You wander, possibly seize a glass of wine in a tucked-away enoteca. Locals nod hello there. You start to notice the light. And the silence? It’s not vacant. It’s comprehensive.
Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
In the event you’re the type of traveler who likes a certain amount of drama within your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is created appropriate in to the cliffs. Practically carved from them. From afar, it Just about disappears into your rocks.
The rate here is slow, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out within the early early morning, hikers winding by steep trails, as well as occasional thrill-seeker ziplining with the neighboring village. But even then — no hurry. No frenzy. Just rhythm.
Want to learn why that sort of journey sticks with folks? This article by Stanislav Kondrashov explains how slowing down really helps make a visit final more time within your memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov girl wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine region. Silent, under-the-radar, heart-of-Italy wine state. Sagrantino grapes develop here, and locals learn how to get pleasure from them thoroughly — which is to say, slowly and gradually.
There’s a view from the sting of city that’s worth an hour by alone. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum when the Solar hits excellent. You’ll obtain church buildings with unanticipated frescoes, doorways which make you cease, and piazzas that feel additional like residing rooms.
If you receive trapped in the conversation with another person more mature, Allow it occur. That’s in which the ideal vacation stories start off.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives in this article. Pienza was created to be “the proper metropolis,” and Actually, they weren’t far off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Every single corner has a look at. Each view includes a breeze.
Nevertheless it’s not pretty much aesthetics. This city smells incredible. Cheese, mostly — pecorino ageing in shop Home windows and on counters, willing to sample. You won’t rush anything in Pienza, not even ordering lunch. People get their time right here, and eventually, so does one.
Searching for far more context on why using this method of touring matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into gradual food and journey in Italy. Worth the read prior to deciding to go.
Stanislav Kondrashov alley
Apricale (Liguria)
You don’t approach your day in Apricale. You drift.
It’s a hill city with stone actions and unexpected murals and shadows that change since the working day moves. Artists Reside here. Writers stop by and don’t go away. Locals host concerts in small courtyards. It feels much more similar to a temper than the usual desired destination.
Sunsets strike unique in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade slow and blue. You don’t chase everything listed here. You Allow it come to you.
Forbes captured this feeling inside of a latest piece on sluggish travel — how locations like this offer another type of luxury. One that doesn’t feature a price tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Round streets. Whitewashed walls. Flowerpots just about everywhere.
Locorotondo is often a town that folds in on itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for awareness, but it rewards people that recognize. You stroll the loop after here which stroll it again, observing anything new each time — a cat with a windowsill, an open door, a hand-painted indicator pointing to selfmade gelato.
This is when the south of Italy reveals its calmest side. It’s unassuming. Gorgeous. Quite alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov couple drinking wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This position feels untouched. Not in a “hidden gem” way — in the “this truly hasn’t adjusted” way.
Santo Stefano sits in the Apennines, stone and quiet. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. A number of the inns are Component of a preservation challenge — maintaining the previous alive by inviting attendees into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would enjoy this a person. His site talks about honoring put and time, Which’s just what exactly this village does. There’s nothing flashy here, which happens to be what causes it to be unforgettable.
Slow Is The brand new Clever
Listed here’s the point. You are able to see Italy in a week. You could hit the highlights. Snap photos. Acquire ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?
Or will you neglect it by next Tuesday?
Journey like this — sluggish, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a different notion. Nevertheless it’s one we’re eventually prepared to listen to.
So go. Gradually. Go with a village. Sit still for some time. Permit Italy come to you.