Slow Travel in Sicily | Finding a Small Town Gem

When my step-sister and I planned out our five months of international travels, we knew we would need a relaxation break at some point. We were staying in a new city every month, traveling from country to country, sightseeing as much as possible in limited amounts of time. We wanted to experience as much as we could, but you can only put so much energy into excursions and tours and train rides when it becomes your lifestyle instead of just a vacation.

Knowing this, we thankfully had the sense to book a month’s stay in a beachside apartment in a tiny town on the east coast of Sicily. The town, which we had no idea how to pronounce properly for a long while, was called Letojanni; we’d never heard of it, but it had the perfect Airbnb right on the beach (with a full kitchen) and was within walking distance to public transport and grocery stores, so we booked it and crossed our fingers. We knew we’d be able to get around the island easily enough, but didn’t make too many plans ahead of time in anticipation for the burnout we knew we’d feel by the time we got there–and boy, did we feel it.

While we did take some day trips and tours here and there, we mostly spent our time doing not much of anything. We still had work to do, so our jobs took up a good chunk of each day–but other than that, we enjoyed not having to rush around in a busy city to make our museum time slot, or figuring out which restaurants we absolutely wanted to go to and scheduling them out each week, or getting home past midnight after a long day of sightseeing and spending too much money. Long story short, we sat by the ocean and cooked meals at home and rarely spent money when we didn’t have to, and we enjoyed every bit of it. Life felt normal again for a bit, even though we were still across the world–and we found beauty in the mundane. So I’m sharing why it’s important that you do, too.

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WHAT IS SLOW TRAVEL?

The first thing to do is really understand what slow traveling means to you, because it can mean a lot of different things depending on your mindset, values, etc. For me (and many others), slow traveling is spending more time in a specific place in order to connect more with that place and the people, food, and culture there. It’s really acclimating to a new place and a different way of life, and really giving yourself the time and the headspace to do so. So for us, each month looked a little different in terms of how we were really embracing these new places we were in.

Florence was my first taste of the Italian lifestyle, and I dove headfirst into the calm, appreciative, simple way of life there. I appreciated food like I never have before, and I took time to wander down streets with no destination, and I embraced the quirks and differences from my own way of doing things. Rome, however, was totally different: we didn’t explore much of where we were, and instead took more trips to new cities, squeezing as much sightseeing into our "on" days as possible. Our off days were spent burned out, tired, and unmotivated to even leave the Airbnb. Sicily, though–Sicily changed things.

If you’re wanting to experience slow travel, make sure you know what that means for you. You don’t have to spend months on end somewhere for it to count–but you do have to make the effort to truly connect with the unfamiliar and embrace local cultures, and take your time when exploring and appreciating instead of cramming as many touristy activities into your itinerary as possible. Better yet, throw out your itinerary and go with the flow. Do what speaks to you when it speaks to you.

FINDING YOUR TOWN

For us, our only requirements for our location in Sicily were that our apartment needed to be within walking distance to public transportation and within walking distance to the beach. We totally lucked out and found a place directly across the street from the beach, so we were sold on it pretty much immediately. We also had never heard of Letojanni before, but we had no idea how tiny the town was truly going to be until we got there.

Again, we were in the offseason as well, so it was essentially a ghost town in the middle of October–but that made it all the more interesting for us. We got to see how this tiny little corner of the world really operated when the flocks of tourists weren’t around, and naturally that came with some odd looks from the locals since we were some of the only obvious outsiders that time of year. But it was a new, challenging, exciting experience that I learned to really love and embrace. I don’t do well being the center of attention, but most of the time we went unnoticed because we kept to ourselves, quietly appreciating the calmness of winter on the Sicilian coast.

If you’re looking to do the same, take a risk on a town you’ve never heard of. Avoid the big, crowded, touristy cities until it’s time to visit them for the day, and then retreat back to your quiet escape.

APPRECIATE THE LOCALE

Even if you’re new to the blog, it’s pretty easy to figure out that one of my favorite things about traveling is trying local foods. Dining at small, local restaurants is what it’s all about for me, and that’s made so much easier if you stay in a small, unassuming town that’s a bit more off the tourist radar. We absolutely loved roaming the streets in Letojanni, popping into one of the few open restaurants for dinner every now and then, and seeing the same locals enjoying their meals every day with friends and family. It was like getting a little glimpse into their everyday lives through food!

Grocery shopping can also be a hassle if you’re in a busy city, but it was another thing we came to truly enjoy in Sicily. There were only a handful of very small markets in town, and even fewer of them were actually open, so we would take our walks to the market once or twice a week and see what new offerings we could find. We became familiar with the people who worked there and saw the same handful of folks walking around each time we went out, and it was nice to feel immersed in the local life doing normal, every day things for a while.

TAKE TIME TO SLOW DOWN

Slow travel is about staying somewhere long enough to immerse yourself in a new place and a new culture, so above all, the main goal here is to simply slow down. Taking a trip on a long weekend and cramming as many activities and cities as possible into your vacation isn’t appealing to a lot of people, and for good reason: it’s stressful AF.

Slow travel is more of a lifestyle; spending multiple weeks or months in one place, spreading out your big excursions or day trips and taking the majority of your time in between to relax and assimilate. Live like a local and enjoy the little things, the quiet moments, the simple pleasures of exploring a new place. It’s certainly not for everyone, and I realize the incredible privilege I have to be able to travel month to month the way I’ve been doing for a year–but if you’re determined to change your lifestyle and focus on slow traveling as a way to experience new countries and cities long term, then it’s definitely something to consider. I can’t speak for everyone, but it absolutely changed my life!