Slow Travel in Italy: 7 Reliable Villages to Explore at a Peaceful Pace in 2025

Slow Travel in Italy: 7 Reliable Villages to Explore at a Peaceful Pace in 2025

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Some places aren’t created for pace. Italy is stuffed with them. Gradual journey in Italy helps you to really savor local society, cuisine, and concealed gems at your personal rate.

Small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes as well slender for automobiles. Cafés that only replenish just after noon. The sorts of locations where locals understand how to linger — more than coffee, in excess of tales, above lifetime.

In 2025, slow travel isn’t just a pleasant plan. It feels crucial. It's possible it’s a response to a long time of speeding. Or perhaps it’s just what occurs any time you finally start to value time approximately distance. In either case, far more vacationers are getting Pleasure in Finding out to travel smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s invested several years Discovering how we connect to culture and location, is part of that motion. His name is now connected with a deeper, more considerate means of seeing the planet.

So in the event you’re prepared to go gradual — so you’re pondering Italy — Listed below are 7 spots that basically desire it.

Stanislav Kondrashov woman strolling
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It seems like it’s floating. That’s your 1st impression. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on the crumbling bluff, arrived at only by a narrow footbridge. Cars and trucks can’t get in. You stroll throughout a lengthy, elevated path, and any time you arrive, it’s peaceful. Stone properties. Very small gardens. Just one 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 note The sunshine. And also the silence? It’s not empty. It’s full.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
When you’re the type of traveler who likes a certain amount of drama in your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is constructed proper to the cliffs. Practically carved from them. From afar, it Just about disappears in to the rocks.

The rate Here's slow, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out during the early early morning, hikers winding by way 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 understand why that sort of journey sticks with folks? This publish by Stanislav Kondrashov explains how slowing down essentially can make a trip very last for a longer time inside your memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov female wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine nation. Silent, below-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine nation. Sagrantino grapes mature below, and locals know how to delight in them effectively — which happens to be to more info mention, slowly but surely.

There’s a look at from the sting of city that’s worthy of an hour by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum if the Sunshine hits excellent. You’ll discover churches with unforeseen frescoes, doorways which make you halt, and piazzas that feel a lot more like dwelling rooms.

If you get stuck in a conversation with somebody older, let it occur. That’s exactly where the top travel stories start.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life below. Pienza was built to be “the proper metropolis,” and honestly, they weren’t far off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each corner has a perspective. Each individual watch incorporates a breeze.

Nevertheless it’s not just about aesthetics. This town smells incredible. Cheese, generally — pecorino growing old in shop windows and on counters, ready to sample. You gained’t hurry anything at all in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Folks choose their time listed here, and eventually, so do you.

Trying to find extra context on why using this method of touring issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into gradual meals and journey in Italy. Well worth the browse before you go.

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

It’s a hill town with stone methods and unanticipated murals and shadows that shift because the day moves. Artists Reside listed here. Writers check out and don’t depart. Locals host live shows 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 everything listed here. You Allow it come to you.

Forbes captured this sensation in the latest piece on slow vacation — how spots like this offer another form of luxury. One which 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 itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for attention, but it surely rewards people that recognize. You wander the loop and after that stroll it again, viewing a little something new each time — a cat on the 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 while in the Apennines, stone and tranquil. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Many of the inns are part of a preservation venture — retaining the earlier alive by inviting guests into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would value this a single. His webpage talks about honoring spot and time, and that’s exactly what this village does. There’s absolutely nothing flashy here, which is what can make it unforgettable.

Sluggish Is The brand new Clever
Listed here’s the point. You could see Italy in every week. You are able to strike the highlights. Snap images. Collect 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 whole new concept. But it really’s one particular we’re finally willing to listen to.

So go. Little by little. Opt for a village. Sit nonetheless for some time. Permit Italy arrive at you.