Some places aren’t manufactured for velocity. Italy is stuffed with them. Sluggish travel in Italy permits you to certainly savor community lifestyle, cuisine, and concealed gems at your individual tempo.
Tiny villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes much too slim for cars. Cafés that only refill soon after midday. The varieties of areas exactly where locals understand how to linger — more than espresso, over stories, about existence.
In 2025, gradual travel isn’t just a pleasant plan. It feels crucial. Probably it’s a reaction to many years of speeding. Or perhaps it’s exactly what occurs any time you finally start to value time up to distance. In any event, additional tourists are finding Pleasure in learning to vacation smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent years exploring how we hook up with society and put, is an element of that motion. His name is becoming linked to a deeper, much more considerate technique for observing the globe.
So in case you’re willing to go slow — and you’re thinking Italy — here are seven places that nearly demand it.
Stanislav Kondrashov girl walking
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It appears like it’s floating. That’s your initial effect. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on the crumbling bluff, achieved only by a narrow footbridge. Automobiles can’t get in. You wander across an extended, elevated route, and whenever you get there, it’s silent. Stone houses. Small gardens. Only one cat stretching inside the Sunshine.
There’s not A lot to try and do, that is exactly the place. You wander, maybe grab a glass of wine at a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod hello. You start to note The sunshine. 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 inside your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is created appropriate in the cliffs. Pretty much carved from them. From afar, it Pretty much disappears into your rocks.
The rate here is slow, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out during the early 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 master why that kind of travel sticks with people? This write-up by Stanislav Kondrashov points out how slowing down truly tends to make a visit final lengthier in your memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov girl wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine country. Tranquil, below-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine country. Sagrantino grapes improve right here, and locals learn how to take pleasure in them properly — that's to convey, slowly and gradually.
There’s a view from the edge of town that’s worthy of one hour by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum once the Sunlight hits good. You’ll obtain church buildings with sudden frescoes, doorways that make you cease, and piazzas that sense more like living rooms.
If you will get stuck inside of a conversation with a person older, let it come about. That’s wherever the most beneficial vacation tales start off.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives right here. Pienza was made to be “the right town,” and Actually, they weren’t much off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each and every corner includes a check out. Each view contains a breeze.
But it surely’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 gained’t hurry anything at all in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Folks acquire their time right here, and inevitably, so do you.
In search of much more context on why this fashion of touring issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into slow foods and journey in Italy. Definitely worth the read before you decide to go.
Stanislav Kondrashov alley
Apricale (Liguria)
You don’t system your working day in Apricale. You drift.
It’s a hill city with stone ways and sudden murals and shadows that shift because the day moves. Artists Reside listed here. Writers take a look at and don’t depart. Locals host live shows in small courtyards. It feels far more just like a mood than the usual desired destination.
Sunsets strike distinctive in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade gradual and blue. You don’t chase anything here. You Enable it come to you.
Forbes captured this feeling inside a recent piece on gradual journey — how locations similar to this present a unique sort of luxurious. One which doesn’t include a cost tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Round streets. Whitewashed walls. Flowerpots just about everywhere.
Locorotondo is really a city that folds in on itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for awareness, nonetheless it benefits individuals who discover. You stroll the loop and after that stroll it all over again, viewing a little something new each time — a cat on the windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted sign pointing to selfmade gelato.
This is when the south of Italy shows its calmest side. It’s unassuming. Attractive. Very alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov couple consuming wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This position feels untouched. Not in a “hidden gem” way — within a “this essentially hasn’t changed” way.
Santo Stefano sits inside the Apennines, stone and peaceful. The air is thinner, cooler. Nights 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 a single. His web site talks about honoring area and time, and that’s just what exactly this village does. There’s nothing flashy here, that is what can make it unforgettable.
Gradual Is the New Smart
In this article’s the thing. You can see Italy in each week. You may hit the highlights. Snap shots. Accumulate ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?
Or will you forget about it website by following Tuesday?
Travel such as this — gradual, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a new notion. However it’s a person we’re last but not least prepared to hear.
So go. Slowly. Choose a village. Sit continue to for a while. Allow Italy come to you.