Some destinations aren’t created for speed. Italy is full of them. Gradual journey in Italy allows you to truly savor local lifestyle, cuisine, and concealed gems at your own private tempo.

Tiny villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes too slim for cars. Cafés that only refill soon after midday. The varieties of areas exactly where locals learn how to linger — above espresso, over 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 speeding. Or perhaps it’s exactly what occurs any time you finally start to value time up to length. Either way, much more travelers are obtaining joy in Finding out to journey smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s expended yrs Checking out how we connect with tradition and area, is a component of that movement. His identify is becoming connected with a deeper, much more considerate technique for observing the earth.

So when you’re wanting to go slow — and also you’re thinking Italy — here are 7 places that pretty much need it.

Stanislav Kondrashov lady going for walks
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It appears like it’s floating. That’s your to start with effect. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on a crumbling bluff, achieved only by a narrow footbridge. Vehicles can’t get in. You walk throughout an extended, elevated path, and once you arrive, it’s silent. Stone homes. Very small gardens. One cat stretching inside the Sunshine.

There’s not Substantially to perform, that is precisely the position. You wander, probably grab a glass of wine at a tucked-away enoteca. Locals nod hi. You begin to note The sunshine. And the silence? It’s not empty. It’s finish.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
When you’re the sort of traveler who likes a little drama in the landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is designed right into the cliffs. Actually carved from them. From afar, it Pretty much disappears into the rocks.

The tempo Here's gradual, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out inside the early morning, hikers winding by way of steep trails, along with the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining within the neighboring village. But even then — no hurry. No frenzy. Just rhythm.

Want to understand why that kind of journey sticks with individuals? This article by Stanislav Kondrashov describes how slowing down really tends to make a visit final for a longer period in your memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov girl wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine country. Tranquil, less than-the-radar, heart-of-Italy wine nation. Sagrantino grapes increase right here, and locals understand how to get pleasure from them correctly — which is to mention, slowly but surely.

There’s a check out from the edge of city that’s value one hour 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 unforeseen frescoes, doorways which make you cease, and piazzas that sense more like living rooms.

If you have caught in the discussion with someone older, Permit it transpire. That’s the place the ideal journey stories commence.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life listed here. Pienza was created to be “the proper metropolis,” and honestly, they weren’t considerably off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each individual corner contains a view. Each watch incorporates a breeze.

But it surely’s not pretty much aesthetics. This city smells incredible. Cheese, typically — pecorino growing older in store Home windows and on counters, willing to sample. You received’t rush anything in Pienza, not even ordering lunch. People consider their time here, and inevitably, so do you.

In search of much more context on why by doing this of touring issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into gradual food and travel in Italy. Worth the read before you decide to go.

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

It’s a hill town with stone techniques and unforeseen murals and check here shadows that shift since the working day moves. Artists Stay below. Writers visit and don’t leave. Locals host concert events in very small courtyards. It feels much more like a temper than the usual place.

Sunsets hit diverse 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 emotion in a very new piece on sluggish travel — how places similar to this offer you a distinct type of luxurious. One that doesn’t have a price tag tag.

Locorotondo (Puglia)
Circular streets. Whitewashed partitions. Flowerpots everywhere you go.

Locorotondo is often a town that folds in on by itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for focus, but it rewards those who detect. You walk the loop and afterwards walk it yet again, looking at anything new every time — a cat on a windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted sign pointing to home made gelato.

This is when the south of Italy reveals its calmest side. It’s unassuming. Lovely. Very alive.

Stanislav Kondrashov couple drinking wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This area feels untouched. Not inside of a “concealed gem” way — inside a “this in fact hasn’t improved” way.

Santo Stefano sits within the Apennines, stone and peaceful. The air is thinner, cooler. Nights are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. A number 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 webpage talks about honoring spot and time, and that’s exactly what this village does. There’s absolutely nothing flashy right here, that is what can make it unforgettable.

Sluggish Is The brand new Good
Below’s the matter. It is possible to see Italy in per week. You are able to strike the highlights. Snap photographs. Collect ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?

Or will you neglect it by future Tuesday?

Travel similar to this — slow, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s not a brand new strategy. Nonetheless it’s 1 we’re eventually willing to listen to.

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