Slow travel in Italy

I invite you to travel slowly in Italy. Stay in a farmhouse on a hill surrounded by olive trees, an apartment in a pretty medieval village, or a villa with a sea view.Live like a local. Meet your Italian neighbors, the baker, the butcher, the old ladies selling zucchini flowers at the market, the men playing cards at the bar.Walk, bike, learn Italian, pick up local habits like breakfast at the bar or siesta after a lazy lunch.Just go to the piazza and observe the Italian life.

Feel stuck in a hurry?

Love these bus tours as you visit 21 cities in 8 days?Travel from one tourist attraction to another with a long list of must-see places?Take a selfie at every corner and immediately post it on social media?Often feel like you need a vacation after your vacation because you end up feeling so tired and stressed out?Well, many of us travel this way.We often have stressful, busy lives, and when we finally go on vacation, the mad rush continues.But it does not have to be like this.I invite you to embrace the idea of slow travel, to travel better and more responsibly.Italy is certainly the best place to enjoy your first slow vacation.

The art of slow travel

Stay a few weeks in a cute Italian village, take enough time to discover the destination and get to know the locals. Walk, hop on your bike, or hop on the local bus and visit the surrounding villages at a leisurely pace.Get to know the small stores in the village, the bakery, the butcher shop, the bar on the corner.Buy fresh fruits and vegetables at the local market and try cooking a local specialty in your rented apartment. Take a cooking lesson or an Italian course.Try reading a local newspaper while enjoying your morning coffee. Have fun running on the beach.Take a siesta every afternoon. Read a good book by a local author in your hammock.Go swimming at sunset.Feel like you are at home in Italy. And at the end you will go home relaxed, refreshed and full of amazing experiences.

How I became a Slow Traveller?

Yes, I was a little girl once. I have traveled to over 50 countries on 5 continents, stunning places like New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Canada, Costa Rica or the Faroe Islands.I planned each trip carefully and had a long list of things to see and do.Of course it was fun, I was also younger, full of energy, and I could go for weeks almost without sleep,making sure there is time for everything. Then every time I came home I was sick and very tired.I looked at the hundreds of photos I took and I couldn't even remember the names of the places I visited.

Slowing down in Italy

Then I started to work as a group leader for Intrepid Travel and traveled for years through Italy. It meant that I kept returning to the same places over and over again.The first times I looked at everything on my checklists, but when my groups had free time and I was also done with paperwork, I had nothing to do.And this was the moment I really fell in love with the places we visited.I was just cycling through the empty streets of Lucca during the siesta, lying on a rock in the Cinque Terre, watching the sea and listening to the waves for hours,sitting in a tiny bar in Positano reading my book, having lunch in cute village markets and chatting with locals everywhere.No churches to visit, no museums for line-up, no famous monuments to take a picture of.I just enjoy this amazing country, make new friends and spend my days everywhere like a local.

Then 6 years ago my daughter was born, and of course this wonderful little girl totally changed my life.I learn so much from her, she teaches me to be more mindful and every day I get better at enjoying the slow moments together.Now we often travel together and she is the master of slow travel.And with her I could not even travel differently.

Our Slow Travel in Italy

When we travel together in Italy, we choose only one place for 1-2 weeks.We visit the local villages, walk around, get lost in these pretty narrow streets, have a long lunch in the piazza where she can walk around as there are no cars and no crowds.In the afternoon an ice cream or two, certainly their favorite activity.Other days we just try a hidden beach in the area and collect stones or play for hours in the sand and water.With her, it's so easy to meet locals too. Old mammas just love her, and we connect with other families with young children second.No obligation programs and no hurry. The art of slow travel.

Her slow travel in Italy

So if you're planning a trip to Italy, treat yourself to something. Allow yourself enough time to immerse yourself in this stunning country,slow down and really be present. Forget about mass tourism, imagine you live here. Choose quality over quantity.Of course, this doesn't mean you can't visit some of Italy's world-famous sights, but remember, less is often more.

Instead of international chain hotels, you stay in accommodations run by local families. Rent an apartment, a villa, a farmhouse, or if you prefer, a room in a small B&B or hotel.Support local families by staying in their accommodation, eating in their trattoria, booking their tours or buying their homemade souvenirs.Experience real life in Italy, walk a lot, try to connect with the wonderful locals,enjoy regional food in restaurants where the locals go, take a siesta, visit places you have never heard of.Don't plan it all, leave time for the unexpected, go and see what's around that corner.You will have the best vacation ever, full of magical Italian moments.You'll never want to travel any other way.And if you need help, please contact me through this website, I'll be happy to help you organize your slow vacation in Italy.