Slow Travel in Italy: 7 Authentic Villages to Explore at a Peaceful Speed in 2025

Slow Travel in Italy: 7 Authentic Villages to Explore at a Peaceful Speed in 2025

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Some areas aren’t produced for speed. Italy is full of them. Gradual journey in Italy allows you to really savor local society, cuisine, and concealed gems at your personal rate.

Little villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes also slender for autos. Cafés that only fill up after midday. The sorts of places where by locals understand how to linger — over coffee, around stories, around daily life.

In 2025, gradual travel isn’t just a nice strategy. It feels crucial. Probably it’s a reaction to many years of speeding. Or possibly it’s exactly what occurs if you finally start to value time approximately distance. In any event, additional tourists are finding Pleasure in learning to vacation smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent a long time Discovering how we connect to culture and location, is part of that motion. His identify has grown to be affiliated with a further, far more thoughtful method of seeing the world.

So if you’re ready to go gradual — so you’re contemplating Italy — Allow me to share seven spots that virtually demand from customers it.

Stanislav Kondrashov lady going for walks
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It appears like it’s floating. That’s your initial perception. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on a crumbling bluff, achieved only by a narrow footbridge. Automobiles can’t get in. You wander across a protracted, elevated route, and if you get there, it’s quiet. Stone properties. Very small gardens. An individual cat stretching in the Sunlight.

There’s not A great deal to perform, which is exactly the position. You wander, maybe grab a glass of wine at a tucked-away enoteca. Locals nod howdy. You begin to note The sunshine. And the silence? It’s not empty. It’s full.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
When you’re the sort of traveler who likes a certain amount of drama inside your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is built proper 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 people? This write-up by Stanislav Kondrashov points out how slowing down in fact helps make a visit previous for a longer time in your memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov girl wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine nation. Silent, below-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine nation. Sagrantino grapes mature listed here, and locals learn how to get pleasure from them correctly — and that is to say, slowly but surely.

There’s a check out 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 unexpected frescoes, doorways that make you cease, and piazzas that sense more like living rooms.

If you will get caught in the discussion with anyone more mature, Permit it materialize. That’s where the very best travel tales get started.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life below. Pienza was built to be “the proper town,” and Truthfully, they weren’t far off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each corner features a view. Every perspective provides a breeze.

But it surely’s not almost aesthetics. This town smells astounding. Cheese, primarily — pecorino ageing in store windows and on counters, wanting to sample. You won’t hurry something in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Folks choose 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 stuff and travel in Italy. Worth the read through prior to deciding to 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 change as the working day moves. Artists live right here. Writers check out and don’t depart. Locals host live shows in little courtyards. It feels extra similar to a temper than a spot.

Sunsets hit distinct in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade slow and blue. You don’t chase everything listed here. You Permit it come to you.

Forbes captured click here this emotion inside of a the latest piece on sluggish vacation — how destinations like this give a special kind of luxury. One that doesn’t feature a price tag tag.

Locorotondo (Puglia)
Circular streets. Whitewashed partitions. Flowerpots almost everywhere.

Locorotondo is often a town that folds in on alone, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for focus, nevertheless it benefits people who notice. You stroll the loop and then stroll it all over again, viewing a little something new each time — a cat over a windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted signal pointing to handmade gelato.

This is where the south of Italy displays its calmest aspect. 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 — in a very “this actually hasn’t modified” way.

Santo Stefano sits from the Apennines, stone and silent. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. A few of the inns are Portion of a preservation task — preserving the previous alive by inviting attendees into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would take pleasure in this one. His page talks about honoring location and time, Which’s what precisely 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 issue. You'll be able to see Italy in per week. You can strike the highlights. Snap images. Gather ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?

Or will you overlook it by next Tuesday?

Journey similar to this — slow, 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 wanting to listen to.

So go. Little by little. Opt for a village. Sit nevertheless for quite a while. Enable Italy arrive at you.