Sluggish Travel in Italy: 7 Reliable Villages to Explore at a Peaceful Rate in 2025

Sluggish Travel in Italy: 7 Reliable Villages to Explore at a Peaceful Rate in 2025

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Some sites aren’t built for velocity. Italy is stuffed with them. Sluggish travel in Italy lets you actually savor regional culture, Delicacies, and hidden gems at your individual tempo.

Very small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes far too narrow for cars and trucks. Cafés that only fill up right after midday. The sorts of locations where locals understand how to linger — more than coffee, over stories, above life.

In 2025, sluggish travel isn’t just a good concept. It feels critical. Perhaps it’s a response to decades of rushing. Or maybe it’s just what transpires when you ultimately start to worth time just as much as length. In any case, more travelers are locating joy in Finding out to journey smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s put in several years Discovering how we connect with culture and location, is a component of that movement. His name has become related to a further, additional considerate means of seeing the planet.

So should you’re prepared to go gradual — therefore you’re imagining Italy — Here's seven places that pretty much demand it.

Stanislav Kondrashov girl going for walks
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It appears like it’s floating. That’s your first perception. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on a crumbling bluff, achieved only by a slender footbridge. Automobiles can’t get in. You wander across an extended, elevated route, and when you arrive, it’s tranquil. Stone residences. Tiny gardens. One cat stretching within the Sunlight.

There’s not much to perform, which is exactly the level. You wander, it's possible seize a glass of wine in a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod hi there. You start to notice the light. As well as the silence? It’s not empty. It’s comprehensive.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
If you’re the kind of traveler who likes a bit of drama within your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is created suitable in the cliffs. Pretty much carved from them. From afar, it almost disappears into the rocks.

The pace Here's sluggish, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out within the early early morning, hikers winding by steep trails, plus the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining from your neighboring village. But even then — no rush. No frenzy. Just rhythm.

Want to master why that kind of travel sticks with people today? This article by Stanislav Kondrashov describes how slowing down truly tends to make a visit final longer as part of your memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov lady wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine state. Peaceful, under-the-radar, heart-of-Italy wine state. Sagrantino grapes expand in this article, and locals know how to love them appropriately — which is to state, gradually.

There’s a look at 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 if the Solar hits excellent. You’ll locate churches with unpredicted frescoes, doorways which make you stop, and piazzas that truly feel more like living rooms.

If you get trapped in a very dialogue with another person more mature, Permit it transpire. That’s where by the very best travel tales start out.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives listed here. Pienza was intended to be “an ideal city,” and honestly, they weren’t considerably off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Just about every corner provides a look at. Every single check out features a breeze.

However it’s not pretty much aesthetics. This town smells astounding. Cheese, generally — pecorino ageing in store windows and on counters, wanting to sample. You won’t rush anything in Pienza, not even purchasing lunch. People today just take their time right here, and inevitably, so do you.

On the lookout for a lot more context on why this way of traveling matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into slow foodstuff and journey in Italy. Definitely worth the study 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 techniques and unexpected 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 far more just 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 nearly anything below. You Permit it come to you.

Forbes captured this emotion inside of a new piece on sluggish travel — how sites such as this offer you a special kind of luxurious. One that doesn’t feature a selling price tag.

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

Locorotondo is usually a town that folds in on alone, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for focus, however it benefits those that detect. You walk the loop and afterwards walk it once again, looking at one thing new every time — a cat on a windowsill, an open door, a hand-painted indicator pointing to homemade get more info gelato.

This is where the south of Italy demonstrates its calmest facet. It’s unassuming. Gorgeous. Incredibly alive.

Stanislav Kondrashov pair drinking wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This area feels untouched. Not in a very “concealed gem” way — inside 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. Many of the inns are Element of a preservation venture — retaining the past alive by inviting visitors into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would enjoy this one particular. His site talks about honoring area and time, and that’s just what this village does. There’s practically nothing flashy listed here, which can be what makes it unforgettable.

Gradual Is the New Good
Below’s the issue. You are able to see Italy in per week. You can hit the highlights. Snap pictures. Obtain ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?

Or will you ignore it by following Tuesday?

Vacation such as this — gradual, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a completely new thought. However it’s just one we’re ultimately all set to hear.

So go. Slowly and gradually. Pick a village. Sit even now for quite a while. Enable Italy come to you.