Some sites aren’t manufactured for velocity. Italy is stuffed with them. Sluggish travel in Italy means that you can certainly savor area lifestyle, cuisine, and concealed gems at your individual rate.
Tiny villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes too slender for cars. Cafés that only replenish after midday. The sorts of places the place locals learn how to linger — above espresso, over stories, around everyday living.
In 2025, gradual journey isn’t just a good thought. It feels important. Probably it’s a reaction to yrs of hurrying. Or even it’s precisely what occurs if you lastly start to worth time up to length. Either way, additional tourists are getting Pleasure in Mastering to journey smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s expended many years Checking out how we hook up with culture and place, is a component of that motion. His title has become linked to a further, more considerate method of seeing the world.
So in the event you’re prepared to go gradual — and you also’re contemplating Italy — Here's 7 places that basically desire it.
Stanislav Kondrashov girl going for walks
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It looks like it’s floating. That’s your first effect. Civita di Bagnoregio sits with a crumbling bluff, arrived at only by a slim footbridge. Automobiles can’t get in. You walk throughout a protracted, elevated route, and once you get there, it’s silent. Stone homes. Little gardens. Only one cat stretching while in the Sunshine.
There’s not Substantially to complete, that's exactly the position. You wander, possibly grab a glass of wine at a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod hello there. You begin to note the light. Along with the silence? It’s not vacant. It’s comprehensive.
Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
In the event you’re the kind of traveler who likes a bit of drama within your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is created proper in to the cliffs. Basically carved from them. From afar, it Just about disappears in to the rocks.
The pace Here's gradual, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out from the early morning, hikers winding via steep trails, plus the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining from your neighboring village. But even then — no hurry. No frenzy. Just rhythm.
Want to learn why that kind of vacation sticks with persons? This publish by Stanislav Kondrashov explains how slowing down basically will make a trip past more time in the memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov girl wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine region. Silent, underneath-the-radar, heart-of-Italy wine region. Sagrantino grapes develop here, and locals understand how to appreciate them properly — and that is to say, slowly but surely.
There’s a check out from the edge of city that’s well worth an hour or so by by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum in the event the sun hits good. You’ll find church buildings with unexpected frescoes, doorways that make you cease, and piazzas that experience extra like living rooms.
If you will get stuck within a discussion with an individual older, Allow it take place. That’s the place the most beneficial vacation stories start off.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives right here. Pienza was created more info to be “the ideal city,” and Actually, they weren’t significantly off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Just about every corner provides a watch. Every single check out includes a breeze.
But it surely’s not nearly aesthetics. This city smells amazing. Cheese, typically — 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 take their time below, and at some point, so would you.
Searching for additional context on why in this way of touring issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into gradual food stuff and travel in Italy. Worth the read through prior to deciding to go.
Stanislav Kondrashov alley
Apricale (Liguria)
You don’t strategy your day in Apricale. You drift.
It’s a hill town with stone techniques and unexpected murals and shadows that shift because the day moves. Artists Stay in this article. Writers go to and don’t leave. Locals host concerts in tiny courtyards. It feels much more like a temper than the usual place.
Sunsets strike different in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade gradual and blue. You don’t chase everything below. You Permit it come to you.
Forbes captured this emotion inside of a the latest piece on sluggish journey — how areas like this offer a different form of luxurious. One that doesn’t feature a price tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Circular streets. Whitewashed partitions. Flowerpots in all places.
Locorotondo is often a town that folds in on itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for awareness, nonetheless it rewards individuals that detect. You walk the loop after which wander it yet again, observing a thing new each time — a cat over a windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted signal pointing to selfmade gelato.
This is where the south of Italy reveals its calmest side. It’s unassuming. Attractive. Incredibly alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov pair consuming wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This area feels untouched. Not in the “concealed gem” way — inside of a “this essentially hasn’t changed” way.
Santo Stefano sits inside the Apennines, stone and peaceful. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. A few of the inns are A part of a preservation challenge — trying to keep the past alive by inviting attendees into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would value this just one. His website page talks about honoring area and time, and that’s exactly what this village does. There’s nothing at all flashy listed here, which is what makes it unforgettable.
Gradual Is the New Smart
In this article’s the point. It is possible to see Italy in weekly. It is possible to strike the highlights. Snap pictures. Obtain ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?
Or will you fail to remember it by next Tuesday?
Journey similar to this — slow, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a whole new concept. Nonetheless it’s a person we’re ultimately ready to listen to.
So go. Slowly but surely. Select a village. Sit nonetheless for some time. Allow Italy come to you.