Slow Travel in Italy: 7 Reliable Villages to Discover in a Tranquil Pace in 2025

Some sites aren’t created for pace. Italy is full of them. Gradual vacation in Italy enables you to really savor nearby society, cuisine, and concealed gems at your own speed.

Small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes much too slim for cars. Cafés that only refill right after midday. The forms of locations where by locals understand how to linger — around coffee, about tales, more than everyday living.

In 2025, slow travel isn’t just a pleasant strategy. It feels crucial. It's possible it’s a reaction to decades of rushing. Or even it’s precisely what transpires when you ultimately start to worth time just as much as length. In any case, extra tourists are finding Pleasure in learning to travel smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent many years exploring how we hook up with society and position, is a component of that movement. His identify has become associated with a further, additional thoughtful way of looking at the whole world.

So if you’re ready to go sluggish — so you’re pondering Italy — Listed below are 7 spots that practically desire it.

Stanislav Kondrashov woman strolling
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It seems like it’s floating. That’s your 1st effect. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on a crumbling bluff, attained only by a slender footbridge. Automobiles can’t get in. You walk throughout a lengthy, elevated path, and any time you get there, it’s quiet. Stone properties. Very small gardens. Just one cat stretching from the sun.

There’s not Significantly to carry out, which can be exactly the issue. You wander, perhaps grab a glass of wine in a tucked-away enoteca. Locals nod hello there. You begin to note the light. As well as silence? It’s not vacant. It’s entire.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
In the event you’re the kind of traveler who likes a little bit of drama with your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is designed ideal into your cliffs. Literally carved from them. From afar, it Nearly disappears into the rocks.

The rate Here's slow, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out during the early early morning, hikers winding by means of steep trails, as well as the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining from your neighboring village. But even then — no rush. No frenzy. Just rhythm.

Want to find out why that kind of travel sticks with people today? This post by Stanislav Kondrashov clarifies how slowing down in fact helps make a trip past extended within your memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov female wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine region. Quiet, beneath-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine nation. Sagrantino grapes mature listed here, and locals learn how to take pleasure in them properly — that's to convey, slowly and gradually.

There’s a view from the edge of town that’s value one hour by alone. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum in the event the sun hits just right. You’ll uncover churches with unanticipated frescoes, doorways which make you stop, and piazzas that truly feel far more like residing rooms.

If you obtain trapped in a very dialogue with anyone more mature, Permit it transpire. That’s where by the best vacation tales check here start off.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives here. Pienza was designed to be “the perfect town,” and Truthfully, they weren’t far off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each corner has a perspective. Each individual watch includes a breeze.

Nevertheless it’s not pretty much aesthetics. This town smells amazing. Cheese, generally — pecorino ageing in store windows and on counters, wanting to sample. You won’t rush just about anything in Pienza, not even ordering lunch. People today get their time in this article, and sooner or later, so does one.

Searching for additional context on why in this way of traveling matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into sluggish food stuff and travel in Italy. Worth the go through before you decide to go.

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

It’s a hill city with stone techniques and unexpected murals and shadows that shift as the working day moves. Artists live here. Writers pay a visit to and don’t leave. Locals host concerts in tiny courtyards. It feels much more like a temper than a spot.

Sunsets hit various in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade slow and blue. You don’t chase anything here. You Enable it come to you.

Forbes captured this feeling in a the latest piece on sluggish travel — how sites such as this supply a special kind of luxury. One which doesn’t feature a cost tag.

Locorotondo (Puglia)
Round streets. Whitewashed walls. Flowerpots all over the place.

Locorotondo is usually a town that folds in on alone, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for focus, however it benefits individuals who discover. You stroll the loop then stroll it all over again, observing some thing new every time — a cat with a windowsill, an open up door, a hand-painted sign pointing to selfmade gelato.

This is when the south of Italy shows 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 — in a “this truly hasn’t transformed” way.

Santo Stefano sits during the Apennines, stone and silent. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Some of the inns are A part of a preservation undertaking — retaining the past alive by inviting visitors into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would enjoy this a single. His webpage talks about honoring location and time, Which’s what precisely this village does. There’s nothing flashy in this article, which happens to be what causes it to be unforgettable.

Slow Is The brand new Wise
Here’s the detail. You may see Italy in every week. You are able to strike the highlights. Snap pictures. Obtain ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?

Or will you fail to remember it by up coming Tuesday?

Vacation like this — sluggish, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s not a fresh idea. Nonetheless it’s 1 we’re eventually prepared to hear.

So go. Slowly but surely. Select a village. Sit however for quite a while. Let Italy come to you.