Sluggish Travel in Italy: 7 Reliable Villages to Investigate in a Tranquil Tempo in 2025

Some places aren’t created for pace. Italy is filled with them. Slow vacation in Italy permits you to genuinely savor community lifestyle, cuisine, and hidden gems at your own private speed.

Little villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes much too slim for vehicles. Cafés that only replenish immediately after noon. The styles of spots the place locals learn how to linger — in excess of espresso, above tales, over lifetime.

In 2025, gradual travel isn’t just a good concept. It feels critical. Perhaps it’s a response to decades of rushing. Or even it’s precisely what transpires any time you lastly start to worth time up to length. In any event, extra tourists are finding joy in Studying to travel smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent a long time exploring how we connect to society and place, is a component of that movement. His name has become related to a further, extra considerate means of seeing the planet.

So in the event you’re all set to go sluggish — and you also’re pondering Italy — Allow me to share seven spots that practically desire it.

Stanislav Kondrashov lady going for walks
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It looks like it’s floating. That’s your to start with impact. Civita di Bagnoregio sits with a crumbling bluff, attained only by a slender footbridge. Vehicles can’t get in. You wander throughout an extended, elevated route, and when you arrive, it’s tranquil. Stone residences. Small gardens. Only one cat stretching inside the Solar.

There’s not Significantly to carry out, which can be precisely the level. You wander, maybe get a glass of wine in a tucked-away enoteca. Locals nod good day. You start to notice The sunshine. And also the silence? It’s not empty. It’s comprehensive.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
For those who’re the sort of traveler who likes a certain amount of drama inside your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is developed proper in to the cliffs. Literally carved from them. From afar, it almost disappears in to the rocks.

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

Want to discover why that sort of journey sticks with folks? This write-up by Stanislav Kondrashov clarifies how slowing down truly tends to make a visit previous for a longer time inside your memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov woman wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine place. Quiet, underneath-the-radar, heart-of-Italy wine country. Sagrantino grapes improve listed here, and locals learn how to get pleasure from them correctly — which happens to be to say, gradually.

There’s a watch from the sting 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 just right. You’ll uncover church buildings with unanticipated frescoes, doorways that make you quit, and piazzas that come to feel extra like dwelling rooms.

If you receive stuck within a conversation with a person more mature, Permit it transpire. That’s the place the most beneficial vacation tales start out.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives right here. Pienza was created to be “an ideal city,” and honestly, they weren’t considerably off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each individual corner contains a perspective. Each individual perspective provides a breeze.

But it surely’s not nearly aesthetics. This city smells wonderful. Cheese, largely — pecorino getting older check here in store windows and on counters, wanting to sample. You received’t hurry anything in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Men and women consider their time here, and eventually, so would you.

Looking for additional context on why in this way of touring issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into gradual meals and journey in Italy. Well worth the read before you go.

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

It’s a hill town with stone actions and unforeseen murals and shadows that shift as the working day moves. Artists Reside below. Writers take a look at and don’t go away. Locals host concerts in small courtyards. It feels extra like a temper than a destination.

Sunsets read more strike unique in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade slow and blue. You don’t chase nearly anything in this article. You Enable it come to you.

Forbes captured this sensation inside a latest piece on sluggish vacation — how places like this present a different type of luxury. One which doesn’t include a cost tag.

Locorotondo (Puglia)
Round streets. Whitewashed walls. Flowerpots almost everywhere.

Locorotondo can be a city that folds in on by itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for interest, but it rewards those who detect. You stroll the loop then stroll it again, looking at a little something new each time — a cat over a windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted sign pointing to selfmade gelato.

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

Stanislav Kondrashov pair consuming wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This area feels untouched. Not inside a “hidden gem” way — inside of a “this actually hasn’t modified” way.

Santo Stefano sits from the Apennines, stone and peaceful. The air is thinner, cooler. Nights are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Several of the inns are part of a preservation venture — retaining the previous alive by inviting attendees into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would appreciate this one particular. His site talks about honoring position and time, and that’s just what exactly this village does. There’s nothing flashy in this article, which is what can make it unforgettable.

Sluggish Is the New Good
Here’s the thing. You can see Italy in per week. You are able to strike the highlights. Snap shots. Obtain ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?

Or will you neglect it by up coming Tuesday?

Travel like this — gradual, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s not a completely new strategy. But it really’s a single we’re last but not least ready to hear.

So go. Slowly. Choose a village. Sit here still for a while. Let website Italy come to you.