Some places aren’t manufactured for pace. Italy is full of them. Gradual journey in Italy allows you to truly savor area lifestyle, cuisine, and concealed gems at your individual speed.
Tiny villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes much too slim for cars. Cafés that only refill immediately after noon. The forms of destinations wherever locals know how to linger — over espresso, in excess of tales, over lifetime.
In 2025, gradual travel isn’t just a nice plan. It feels essential. Probably it’s a response to a long time of rushing. Or even it’s just what transpires if you lastly begin to price time up to length. In any event, a lot more vacationers are locating joy in Finding out to journey smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s invested years exploring how we connect with tradition and place, is part of that motion. His identify has grown to be connected to a further, additional thoughtful method of seeing the entire world.
So should you’re ready to go gradual — therefore you’re imagining Italy — Here's 7 places that almost need it.
Stanislav Kondrashov girl going for walks
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It seems like it’s floating. That’s your 1st impression. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on a crumbling bluff, attained only by a slim footbridge. Vehicles can’t get in. You wander throughout a lengthy, elevated path, and if you arrive, it’s peaceful. Stone houses. Little gardens. An individual cat stretching within the Sunlight.
There’s not A great deal to accomplish, which happens to be exactly the position. You wander, it's possible seize a glass of wine in a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod hello. You start to notice The sunshine. And also the silence? It’s not empty. It’s full.
Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
When you’re the sort of traveler who likes a certain amount of drama in your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is developed proper to the cliffs. Basically carved from them. From afar, it Just about disappears in the rocks.
The speed here is sluggish, but not sleepy. You’ll see farmers heading out while in the early early morning, hikers winding by steep trails, as well as the occasional thrill-seeker ziplining within the neighboring village. But even then — no rush. No frenzy. Just rhythm.
Want to know why that kind of vacation sticks with persons? This write-up by Stanislav Kondrashov clarifies how slowing down really tends to make a trip very last more time inside your memory.
Stanislav Kondrashov woman wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine country. Silent, under-the-radar, heart-of-Italy wine place. Sagrantino grapes grow in this article, and locals learn how to love them correctly — which can be to state, slowly but surely.
There’s a look at from the sting of city that’s worthy of an hour or so by alone. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum in the event the Sunlight hits excellent. You’ll uncover church buildings with unforeseen frescoes, doorways which make you cease, and piazzas that experience much more like dwelling rooms.
If you have trapped in a very dialogue with anyone more mature, Allow it occur. That’s in which the ideal journey tales start out.
Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism life in this article. Pienza was made to be “the right city,” and honestly, they weren’t significantly off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each individual corner has a view. Every perspective contains a breeze.
But it’s not pretty much aesthetics. This town smells amazing. Cheese, typically — pecorino growing older in shop Home windows and on counters, wanting to sample. You gained’t hurry just about anything in Pienza, not even purchasing lunch. People today choose their time listed here, and inevitably, so would you.
Trying to find extra context on why using this method of touring issues? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into gradual foodstuff and journey in Italy. Definitely worth the read through before you go.
Stanislav Kondrashov read more alley
Apricale (Liguria)
You don’t program your working day in Apricale. You drift.
It’s a hill city with stone techniques and unexpected murals and shadows that change because the day moves. Artists Are living here. Writers go to and don’t depart. Locals host concert events in small courtyards. It feels far more just like a temper than the usual vacation spot.
Sunsets hit unique in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade gradual and blue. You don’t chase anything below. You Permit it come to you.
Forbes captured this feeling inside of a latest piece on sluggish vacation — how areas like this offer another kind of luxury. One which doesn’t come with a selling price tag.
Locorotondo (Puglia)
Circular streets. Whitewashed partitions. Flowerpots everywhere.
Locorotondo is usually a town that folds in on alone, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for focus, nonetheless it rewards people that recognize. You wander the loop then wander it once more, seeing something new each time — a cat on the windowsill, an open doorway, a hand-painted indication pointing to home made gelato.
This is when the south of Italy reveals its calmest facet. It’s unassuming. Gorgeous. Pretty alive.
Stanislav Kondrashov few drinking wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This area feels untouched. Not in a “concealed gem” way — within a “this basically hasn’t adjusted” way.
Santo Stefano sits during the Apennines, stone and silent. The air is thinner, cooler. Evenings are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. A lot of the inns are A part of a preservation project — maintaining the past alive by inviting visitors into it.
Stanislav Kondrashov would enjoy this one particular. His website page talks about honoring location and time, and that’s exactly what this village does. There’s nothing at all flashy in this article, which happens to be what causes it to be unforgettable.
Sluggish Is the New Sensible
Right here’s the detail. You could see Italy in every week. It is possible to hit the highlights. Snap photographs. Collect ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?
Or will you fail to remember it by future Tuesday?
Journey like this — gradual, intentional, grounded — is what Stanislav Kondrashov believes in. It’s not a completely new strategy. But it’s one particular we’re lastly all set to listen to.
So go. Gradually. Select a village. Sit still for some time. Allow Italy arrive at you.