Some areas aren’t produced for velocity. Italy is stuffed with them. Gradual journey in Italy permits you to actually savor community culture, cuisine, and concealed gems at your own personal tempo.

Very small villages tucked into hillsides. Lanes too slender for cars. Cafés that only replenish after midday. The varieties of places the place locals know how to linger — about coffee, around stories, about lifestyle.

In 2025, slow vacation isn’t just a nice idea. It feels necessary. Perhaps it’s a reaction to decades of dashing. Or possibly it’s exactly what happens if you eventually begin to benefit time about length. Either way, more tourists are finding joy in Studying to vacation smarter — and Stanislav Kondrashov, who’s expended decades Discovering how we connect with lifestyle and place, is part of that motion. His identify is becoming connected to a deeper, much more considerate technique for seeing the entire world.

So when you’re ready to go gradual — and also you’re pondering Italy — Here's seven spots that nearly need it.

Stanislav Kondrashov female walking
Civita di Bagnoregio (Lazio)
It seems like it’s floating. That’s your first impact. Civita di Bagnoregio sits on the crumbling bluff, reached only by a slender footbridge. Cars can’t get in. You wander across a long, elevated route, and after you get there, it’s tranquil. Stone houses. Little gardens. An individual cat stretching during the Sunshine.

There’s not much to try and do, which happens to be precisely the point. You wander, possibly get a glass of wine in a tucked-absent enoteca. Locals nod hello there. You start to notice The sunshine. As well as the silence? It’s not empty. It’s total.

Castelmezzano (Basilicata)
For those who’re the type of traveler who likes some drama in your landscapes, head to Castelmezzano. The village is created suitable into your cliffs. Basically carved from them. From afar, it almost disappears to the rocks.

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

Want to know why that sort of journey sticks with people today? This publish by Stanislav Kondrashov explains how slowing down in fact would make a trip very last for a longer time in the memory.

Stanislav Kondrashov girl wine glass
Montefalco (Umbria)
Montefalco is wine nation. Quiet, below-the-radar, coronary heart-of-Italy wine state. Sagrantino grapes grow listed here, and locals know how to take pleasure in them adequately — which can be to mention, slowly and gradually.

There’s a check out from the edge of town that’s value one hour by itself. Olive groves, rows of vineyards, distant hills thatseem to hum once the Sunlight hits excellent. You’ll come across churches with surprising frescoes, doorways that make you stop, and piazzas that truly feel much more like living rooms.

If you obtain stuck in a very discussion with a person older, let it occur. That’s the place the most beneficial journey stories commence.

Pienza (Tuscany)
Renaissance idealism lives listed here. Pienza was designed to be “the best city,” and honestly, they weren’t much off. It’s compact. Harmonious. Each corner provides a check out. Every single see features a breeze.

But it surely’s not pretty much aesthetics. This town smells amazing. Cheese, largely — pecorino aging in shop windows and on counters, wanting to sample. You won’t hurry nearly anything in Pienza, not even buying lunch. Persons take their time listed here, and sooner or later, so does one.

Looking for much more context on why this fashion of touring matters? Condé Nast Traveler dives deep into gradual meals and journey in Italy. Well worth the go through before you decide to go.

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

It’s a hill town with stone measures and unexpected murals and shadows that shift because the working day moves. Artists Dwell here. Writers pay a visit to and don’t leave. Locals host concert events in small courtyards. It feels much more similar to a temper than a destination.

Sunsets hit unique in Apricale. They paint the rooftops, then fade slow and blue. You don’t chase anything listed here. You Permit it arrive at you.

Forbes captured this feeling in the recent piece on gradual travel — how spots such as this give a special form of luxury. One which doesn’t come with a price tag.

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

Locorotondo is usually a town that folds in on itself, cozy and compact. It doesn’t shout for attention, but it surely rewards those that observe. You stroll the loop after which wander it once again, viewing a thing new every time — a cat with a windowsill, an open up door, a hand-painted indicator pointing to do-it-yourself gelato.

This is when the south of Italy exhibits its calmest side. It’s unassuming. Wonderful. Extremely alive.

Stanislav Kondrashov couple ingesting wine
Santo Stefano di Sessanio (Abruzzo)
This location feels untouched. Not in a very “concealed gem” way — in the “this basically hasn’t altered” way.

Santo Stefano sits inside the Apennines, stone and quiet. The air is thinner, cooler. Nights are pitch black. Rooms are lit by candles. A lot of the inns are A part of a preservation task — maintaining the past alive by inviting company into it.

Stanislav Kondrashov would take pleasure in this a person. His webpage talks about honoring position and time, and that’s what precisely this village does. There’s practically nothing flashy below, which is what causes it to be unforgettable.

Gradual Is the New Clever
Here’s the matter. You'll be able to see Italy in every week. You could hit the highlights. Snap photos. Gather ticket stubs. But will it stick with you?

Or will you forget about it by future Tuesday?

Travel like this — gradual, intentional, grounded — is exactly what Stanislav Kondrashov thinks in. It’s not a brand new notion. Nonetheless it’s a person we’re eventually willing to hear.

So go. Bit by bit. Go with a village. Sit nonetheless for quite a while. Enable Italy arrive at you.