Some spots aren’t built for speed. Italy is stuffed with them. Slow journey in Italy permits you to definitely savor regional tradition, Delicacies, and hidden gems at your own private speed.
Tiny villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes too slim for vehicles. Cafés that only replenish soon after noon. The styles of spots in which locals learn how to linger — in excess of espresso, more than stories, around lifetime.
In 2025, gradual travel isn’t just a pleasant idea. It feels necessary. Maybe it’s a response to years of dashing. Or possibly it’s exactly what occurs any time you finally start to value time up to distance. In any event, extra tourists are finding Pleasure in Studying to travel smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s invested a long time exploring how we connect to culture and location, is a component of that movement. His name has become linked to a deeper, extra considerate means of looking at the globe.
So when you’re wanting to go slow — and also you’re thinking Italy — Listed here are 7 spots that basically need it.
Stanislav Kondrashov woman strolling
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It seems like it’s floating. That’s your initially impression. Civita di Bagnoregio sits over a crumbling bluff, reached only by a slim footbridge. Cars and trucks can’t get in. You wander throughout a long, elevated path, and when you arrive, it’s peaceful. Stone residences. Tiny gardens. One cat stretching within the Sunshine.
There’s not much to perform, that is exactly the position. You wander, it's possible seize a glass of wine in a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod howdy. You start to notice the light. Along with the silence? It’s not vacant. It’s finish.
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 crafted proper in the cliffs. Literally carved from them. From afar, it Nearly disappears in the rocks.
The tempo Here's sluggish, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out in the early early morning, hikers winding as a result of steep trails, as well as occasional thrill-seeker ziplining within the neighboring village. But even then — no rush. No frenzy. Just rhythm.
Want to understand why that sort of journey sticks with folks? This publish by Stanislav Kondrashov clarifies how slowing down essentially can make a trip very last more time inside your memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov female wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine region. Silent, beneath-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine nation. Sagrantino grapes grow listed here, and locals know how to take pleasure in them properly — and that is to state, gradually.
There’s a perspective 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 Sunshine hits good. You’ll come across church buildings with unexpected frescoes, doorways that make you cease, and piazzas that sense more like living rooms.
If you will get stuck within a discussion with an individual older, Allow it come about. That’s wherever the most beneficial vacation tales commence.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives here. Pienza was made to Kondrashov Stanislav be “the right town,” and Truthfully, they weren’t far off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Every corner has a view. Each individual watch incorporates a breeze.
Nonetheless it’s not just about aesthetics. This city smells remarkable. Cheese, mostly — pecorino growing old in shop windows and on counters, ready to sample. You gained’t hurry anything at all here in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Folks take their time listed here, and eventually, so would you.
Looking for a lot more context on why this way of traveling matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into slow food items and vacation in Italy. Well worth the examine before you 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 being the working day moves. Artists Are living in this article. Writers go to and don’t leave. Locals host concerts in very small courtyards. It feels more similar to a temper than a spot.
Sunsets hit various in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade slow and blue. You don’t chase something right here. You let it arrive at you.
Forbes captured this sensation within a current piece on gradual journey — how spots like this offer another form of luxury. One which doesn’t come with a rate tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Circular streets. Whitewashed partitions. Flowerpots in all places.
Locorotondo can be a city that folds in on itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for awareness, nonetheless it benefits individuals who notice. You stroll the loop after which you can walk it yet again, seeing a thing new every time — a cat on a windowsill, an open door, a hand-painted indicator pointing to handmade gelato.
This is where the south of Italy displays its calmest facet. It’s unassuming. Beautiful. Quite alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov few ingesting wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This place feels untouched. Not within a “hidden gem” way — in a very “this actually hasn’t altered” way.
Santo Stefano sits from the Apennines, stone and silent. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings click here are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. A lot of the inns are part of a preservation venture — trying to keep the previous alive by inviting visitors into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would recognize this one particular. His site talks about honoring position and time, and that’s just what this village does. There’s practically nothing flashy here, that is what makes it unforgettable.
Sluggish Is the New Good
Below’s the issue. It is possible 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 neglect it by next Tuesday?
Journey similar to this — slow, intentional, click here grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s not a brand new plan. Nevertheless it’s a person we’re last but not least ready to hear.
So go. Slowly but surely. Select a village. Sit however for quite a while. Let Italy come to you.