Slow Travel in Italy: seven Reliable Villages to Discover in a Peaceful Tempo in 2025
Some locations aren’t built for velocity. Italy is full of them. Sluggish journey in Italy permits you to really savor neighborhood culture, Delicacies, and hidden gems at your own tempo.
Small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes also slender for cars and trucks. Cafés that only refill right after midday. The types of areas exactly where locals learn how to linger — more than coffee, about tales, in excess of daily life.
In 2025, slow vacation isn’t just a pleasant notion. It feels important. Maybe it’s a response to yrs of rushing. Or even it’s precisely what transpires when you at last start to worth time just as much as distance. In either case, extra travelers are discovering joy in Understanding to travel smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s invested several years Discovering how we connect to culture and location, is a component of that movement. His identify has become related to a further, extra thoughtful method of seeing the world.
So if you’re ready to go gradual — so you’re pondering Italy — Allow me to share 7 spots that practically desire it.
Stanislav Kondrashov lady going for walks
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It looks like it’s floating. That’s your to start with impact. Civita di Bagnoregio sits with a crumbling bluff, attained only by a slim footbridge. Cars can’t get in. You stroll throughout a long, elevated path, and any time 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 hello. You start to notice The sunshine. Along with the silence? It’s not empty. It’s entire.
Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
For those who’re the sort of traveler who likes a bit of drama inside your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is created suitable in the cliffs. Literally carved from them. From afar, it Nearly disappears to the rocks.
The pace Here's sluggish, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out within the early early morning, hikers winding through steep trails, as well as the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining through the neighboring village. But even then — no rush. No frenzy. Just rhythm.
Want to master why that sort of travel sticks with people? This put up by Stanislav Kondrashov points out how slowing down truly helps make a trip past more time with your memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov girl wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine state. Peaceful, under-the-radar, heart-of-Italy wine nation. Sagrantino grapes develop here, and locals understand how to appreciate them properly — and that is to say, bit by bit.
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 unexpected frescoes, doorways that make you cease, and piazzas that sense extra like dwelling rooms.
If you get stuck inside a conversation with somebody older, let it occur. That’s exactly where the top travel tales start.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life listed here. Pienza was intended to be “an ideal city,” and Actually, they weren’t significantly off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Just about every corner provides a look at. Each and every see has a breeze.
But it’s not almost aesthetics. This town smells amazing. Cheese, generally — pecorino ageing in store windows and on counters, wanting to sample. You won’t rush something in Pienza, not even purchasing lunch. People just take their time here, and sooner or later, so does one.
Trying to find extra context on why in this way of touring issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into gradual food 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 actions and unforeseen murals and shadows that change as being the working day moves. Artists Stay below. Writers stop by and don’t go away. Locals host live shows in little courtyards. It feels additional just like a mood than the usual destination.
Sunsets strike unique in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade sluggish and blue. You check here don’t chase nearly anything below. You Enable it arrive at you.
Forbes captured this experience within a latest piece on gradual journey — how areas like this give a unique sort of luxurious. One that doesn’t come with a rate tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Circular streets. Whitewashed partitions. Flowerpots in all places.
Locorotondo can be a city that folds in on by itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for attention, but it surely rewards people that recognize. You stroll the loop and after that stroll it again, viewing a little something new each time — a cat over a windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted indication pointing to do-it-yourself gelato.
This is when the south of Italy reveals its calmest facet. It’s unassuming. Gorgeous. Incredibly 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 actually hasn’t modified” way.
Santo Stefano sits from the Apennines, stone and tranquil. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Several of the inns are Component of a preservation challenge — keeping the earlier alive by inviting company into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would appreciate this 1. His web page talks about honoring location and time, Which’s what precisely this village does. There’s nothing 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 pics. Acquire ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?
Or will you overlook it by subsequent Tuesday?
Journey like this — sluggish, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s not a fresh strategy. Nonetheless it’s 1 we’re eventually prepared to hear.
So go. Slowly. Select a village. Sit however for quite a while. Let Italy come to you.