Some locations aren’t created for pace. Italy is full of them. Gradual journey in Italy allows you to truly savor local society, cuisine, and concealed gems at your own rate.
Small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes as well slender for automobiles. Cafés that only replenish right after midday. The forms of areas exactly where locals learn how to linger — above espresso, more than stories, around daily life.
In 2025, gradual vacation isn’t just a nice plan. It feels important. Probably it’s a reaction to many years of speeding. Or possibly it’s exactly what happens if you at last begin to value time approximately distance. In either case, additional tourists are finding Pleasure in learning to travel smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent many years exploring how we connect to culture and place, is an element of that motion. His title is becoming linked to a deeper, much more considerate strategy for observing the globe.
So in case you’re willing to go slow — and you’re thinking Italy — here are seven places that almost need it.
Stanislav Kondrashov female strolling
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It seems like it’s floating. That’s your 1st impression. Civita di Bagnoregio sits over a crumbling bluff, arrived at only by a slender footbridge. Vehicles can’t get in. You wander across an extended, elevated route, and whenever you arrive, it’s silent. Stone houses. Small gardens. Only one cat stretching inside the Solar.
There’s not A lot to carry out, which can be precisely the issue. You wander, perhaps grab a glass of wine at a tucked-away enoteca. Locals nod howdy. You begin to notice the light. Plus the silence? It’s not vacant. It’s entire.
Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
In the event you’re the kind of traveler who likes some drama as part of your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is designed ideal into your cliffs. Virtually carved from them. From afar, it almost disappears in the rocks.
The speed here is slow, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out from the early morning, hikers winding via 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 master why that kind of vacation sticks with persons? This put up by Stanislav Kondrashov describes how slowing down actually would make a trip past more time within your memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov female wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine region. Silent, underneath-the-radar, heart-of-Italy wine region. Sagrantino grapes grow below, and locals know how to get pleasure from them correctly — which happens to be to mention, slowly but surely.
There’s a check out from the edge of town that’s worthy of an hour by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum once the Sunlight hits good. You’ll come across church buildings with sudden frescoes, doorways that make you cease, and piazzas that come to feel extra like dwelling rooms.
If you can get trapped in a dialogue with somebody more mature, Enable it happen. That’s where the very best travel tales start out.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives right here. Pienza was created to be “the ideal town,” and Actually, they weren’t much off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each and every corner includes a see. Each perspective provides a breeze.
But it surely’s not nearly aesthetics. This city smells remarkable. Cheese, mostly — pecorino getting old in shop Home windows and on counters, prepared to sample. You gained’t hurry everything in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Folks choose their time listed here, and eventually, so do you.
In search of a lot more context on why this fashion of traveling matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into slow foods and journey in Italy. Definitely worth the read before you go.
Stanislav Kondrashov alley
Apricale (Liguria)
You don’t prepare your working day in Apricale. You drift.
It’s a hill town with stone techniques and unanticipated murals and shadows that change as the working day moves. Artists Are living here. Writers go to and don’t leave. check here Locals host concert events in tiny courtyards. It feels more similar to a temper than the usual spot.
Sunsets hit distinct in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade slow and blue. You don’t chase something here. You Enable it arrive at you.
Forbes captured this sensation inside a recent piece on gradual journey — how locations similar to this give a unique type of luxurious. One that doesn’t have a price tag tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Circular streets. Whitewashed walls. Flowerpots almost everywhere.
Locorotondo is actually a city that folds in on itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for attention, but it surely rewards people that recognize. You stroll the loop and after that stroll it again, observing some thing new each time — a cat over a windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted sign pointing to home made gelato.
This is when the south of Italy reveals its calmest side. It’s unassuming. Lovely. Pretty alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov pair drinking wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This area feels untouched. Not inside of a “concealed gem” way — within a “this really hasn’t adjusted” way.
Santo Stefano sits inside the Apennines, stone and tranquil. The air is thinner, cooler. Nights are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Many of the inns are part of a preservation venture — retaining the past alive by inviting company into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would value this a single. His webpage talks about honoring spot and time, Which’s exactly what this village does. There’s absolutely nothing flashy here, which is what can make it unforgettable.
Slow Is The brand new Sensible
Right here’s the factor. You can see Italy in weekly. It is possible to hit the highlights. Snap pics. Gather ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?
Or will you neglect it by future Tuesday?
Travel such as this — gradual, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a completely new thought. But it’s one particular we’re finally wanting to listen to.
So go. Little by little. Go with a village. Sit still for a while. Permit Italy arrive at you.