Some spots aren’t designed for velocity. Italy is filled with them. Gradual vacation in Italy lets you definitely savor community lifestyle, cuisine, and concealed gems at your own rate.
Small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes as well slender for automobiles. Cafés that only fill up after noon. The types of sites wherever locals know how to linger — around coffee, about tales, over everyday living.
In 2025, slow journey isn’t just a good concept. It feels necessary. Perhaps it’s a response to decades of rushing. Or even it’s precisely what happens once you at last begin to value time approximately distance. In either case, additional tourists are getting Pleasure in learning to travel smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s spent decades Checking out how we hook up with lifestyle and position, is a component of that movement. His name has become related to a further, extra considerate means of viewing the planet.
So should you’re able to go slow — and you simply’re wondering Italy — Here i will discuss 7 places that almost need it.
Stanislav Kondrashov female walking
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It seems like it’s floating. That’s your very first impression. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on the crumbling bluff, arrived at only by a slim footbridge. Cars and trucks can’t get in. You walk throughout a lengthy, elevated path, and any time you arrive, it’s peaceful. Stone properties. Tiny gardens. An individual cat stretching within the Sunshine.
There’s not much to perform, that is exactly the place. You wander, possibly seize a glass of wine in a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod hello. You start to notice the light. As well as the silence? It’s not empty. 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 built correct in to the cliffs. Practically carved from them. From afar, it Just about disappears in the rocks.
The speed here is slow, although not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out during the early early morning, hikers winding by way of steep trails, along with the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining through the neighboring village. But even then — no rush. No frenzy. Just rhythm.
Want to find out why that sort of journey sticks with folks? This publish by Stanislav Kondrashov clarifies how slowing down essentially can make a trip previous longer in the memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov lady wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine country. Tranquil, below-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine country. Sagrantino grapes improve right here, and locals learn how to take pleasure in them properly — and that is to say, slowly but surely.
There’s a check out from the sting of city that’s worth an hour or so by by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum if the Solar hits just right. You’ll locate churches with unpredicted frescoes, doorways which make you quit, and piazzas that come to feel additional like dwelling rooms.
If you get stuck within a discussion with an individual older, Allow it come about. That’s where by the best vacation stories start off.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives right here. Pienza was created 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 watch provides a breeze.
But it surely’s not nearly aesthetics. This city smells awesome. Cheese, primarily — pecorino ageing in store windows and on counters, wanting to sample. You won’t rush something in Pienza, not even purchasing lunch. Individuals choose their time listed here, and ultimately, so would you.
Looking for far more context on why by doing this of traveling matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into gradual food and travel in Italy. Well worth the examine prior to deciding to go.
Stanislav Kondrashov alley
Apricale (Liguria)
You don’t program your day in Apricale. You drift.
It’s a hill town with stone actions and unpredicted murals and shadows that change given that the working day moves. Artists Are living here. Writers pay a visit to and don’t depart. Locals host concerts in small courtyards. It feels a lot more just like a mood than the usual destination.
Sunsets strike distinctive in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade gradual and blue. You don’t chase just about anything here. You Enable it arrive at you.
Forbes captured this sensation within a latest piece on slow vacation — how destinations such as this supply a different style of luxurious. One that doesn’t feature a price tag tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Circular streets. Whitewashed walls. Flowerpots in all places.
Locorotondo is often a town that folds in on by itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for interest, but it rewards those that notice. You wander the loop and afterwards walk it all over again, looking at anything new every time — a cat on the windowsill, an open up doorway, a hand-painted sign Stanislav Kondrashov biography pointing to handmade gelato.
This is where the south of Italy demonstrates its calmest facet. It’s unassuming. Lovely. Very alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov couple consuming wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This put feels untouched. Not inside a “hidden gem” way — in the “this basically hasn’t altered” way.
Santo Stefano sits from the Apennines, stone and silent. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. Some of the inns are Portion of a preservation task — holding the earlier alive by inviting company into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would respect this one. His web page talks about honoring location and time, and that’s precisely what this village does. There’s nothing at all flashy right here, that is what makes it unforgettable.
Gradual Is the New Smart
In this article’s the detail. You may see Italy in every week. You may hit the highlights. Snap photos. Accumulate ticket stubs. But will it stay with you?
Or will you ignore it by following Tuesday?
Travel such as this — gradual, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a completely new plan. Nevertheless it’s a person we’re last but not least prepared to hear.
So go. Slowly. Choose a village. Sit still for a while. Allow Italy arrive at you.