Some spots aren’t designed for velocity. Italy is filled with them. Sluggish travel in Italy helps you to truly savor area lifestyle, cuisine, and concealed gems at your very own tempo.
Very small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes far too narrow for cars and trucks. Cafés that only refill soon after midday. The forms of areas exactly where locals learn how to linger — above espresso, more than stories, around daily life.
In 2025, gradual travel isn’t just a nice plan. It feels important. Probably it’s a reaction to many years of dashing. Or possibly it’s exactly what happens if you at last begin to value time approximately distance. In either case, additional tourists are getting Pleasure in learning to vacation smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent many years exploring how we hook up with society and put, is an element of that movement. His name is now connected with a deeper, more considerate strategy for observing the globe.
So in case you’re willing to go slow — and you’re wondering Italy — Here's seven spots that basically demand it.
Stanislav Kondrashov lady strolling
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It appears like it’s floating. That’s your initially effect. Civita di Bagnoregio sits with a crumbling bluff, attained only by a slim footbridge. Cars can’t get in. You stroll across an extended, elevated route, and when you get there, it’s peaceful. Stone houses. Very small gardens. One cat stretching while in the sun.
There’s not much to carry out, that's precisely the point. You wander, possibly seize a glass of wine in a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod hi. You begin to note The sunshine. And also the silence? It’s not empty. It’s comprehensive.
Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
For those who’re the kind of traveler who likes a little bit of drama as part of your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is built correct in to the cliffs. Practically carved from them. From afar, it Just about disappears into your rocks.
The speed here is slow, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out from the early morning, hikers winding by means of steep trails, along with 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 individuals? This publish by Stanislav Kondrashov clarifies how slowing down essentially can make a visit very last more time inside 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 develop in this article, and locals know how to love them appropriately — which is to mention, slowly.
There’s a watch from the sting of city that’s really worth an hour or so by by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum in the event the sun hits just right. You’ll uncover church buildings with unanticipated frescoes, doorways which make you quit, and piazzas that come to feel extra like dwelling rooms.
If you get stuck inside a discussion with anyone more mature, Permit it materialize. That’s where the very best travel tales get started.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life listed here. Pienza was intended to be “the proper metropolis,” and honestly, they weren’t considerably off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each individual corner contains a watch. Every single check here look at includes a breeze.
However it’s not pretty much aesthetics. This town smells amazing. Cheese, typically — pecorino growing older in store windows and on counters, all set to sample. You won’t hurry anything at all in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Folks take their time listed here, and eventually, so would you.
Looking for far more context on why this way of traveling matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into sluggish food and travel in Italy. Well worth the examine 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 methods and unanticipated murals and shadows that change as the working day moves. Artists live right here. Writers pay a visit to and don’t depart. Locals host concerts in small courtyards. It feels a lot more like a mood than the usual desired 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 feeling in a recent piece on gradual journey — how locations similar to this give a different kind of luxurious. One that doesn’t feature a value tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Round streets. Whitewashed walls. Flowerpots almost everywhere.
Locorotondo can be a city that folds in on by itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for attention, but it really rewards people that observe. You wander the loop then wander it once more, looking at one thing new every time — a cat with a windowsill, an open door, a hand-painted indicator pointing to homemade gelato.
This is where the south of Italy displays its calmest facet. It’s unassuming. Beautiful. Quite alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov pair ingesting wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This location feels untouched. Not in the “concealed gem” way — inside of a “this really hasn’t modified” way.
Santo Stefano sits during the Apennines, stone and silent. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Some of the inns are A part of a preservation task — preserving the previous alive by inviting friends into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would take pleasure in this a person. His page talks about honoring place and time, Which’s exactly what this village does. There’s absolutely nothing flashy right here, that is what can make it unforgettable.
Gradual Is The brand new Clever
Here’s the detail. You could see Italy in weekly. It is possible to hit the highlights. Snap shots. Accumulate ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?
Or will you forget about it by next Tuesday?
Journey similar to this — slow, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s not a whole new idea. But it surely’s a single we’re at last able to listen to.
So go. Gradually. Go with a village. Sit still for a while. Permit Italy arrive at you.