Coolcation & Italian Villeggiatura – With increasingly frequent scorching temperatures, a new travel trend has emerged in recent years.
The first person to tell me about it was my colleague Sandrine, who runs B.Italie Travel , a travel agency specializing in tailor-made holidays in Italy.
Sandrine: “Chiara, have you ever heard of “coolcation?”
Chiara : “What? Absolutely not—I’ve never heard that term before.”
That’s how I discovered this word, created by combining two English words: cool and vacation.
Behind this trendy buzzword lies a desire that is becoming increasingly common among travelers: to slow down, escape the sweltering heat, settle into one place, and choose a destination for its cool climate rather than its sunshine. It’s about taking the time to enjoy life instead of rushing from one attraction to another, embracing gentler, more authentic holidays where well-being comes first.
What if all of this… already had a name in Italy?
I first met Sandrine on Instangram and , later, we met , sitting in a cafè in Piazza del Campo in Siena. She was dreaming of showing people Italy with itineraries out of the beaten paths. I was committed to make people discover and understand Italy through the language.
She was the one who made me think about the way italians live the summer holiday.
Long before the world started talking about “coolcations”, Italians were already embracing – la villeggiatura—the tradition of leaving the city during the summer for a few weeks and settling somewhere else. I already talked about it HERE in the BLOG :
Born during Italy’s economic boom of the 1950s and 1960s and continuing over the following two decades, “villeggiatura” was never really about the destination. People didn’t go there to visit a place; they went there to live the summer.
Families would return year after year to the very same place—” same beach, same sea” (as the famous Italian song goes)—to reunite with lifelong friends and enjoy a slower pace of life, far from deadlines and obligations, where days seemed to stretch endlessly in a suspended moment in time.
In short, “villeggiatura” wasn’t about packing every day with activities. Quite the opposite: it was about doing less, rediscovering the value of everyday rituals, simple pleasures, and an unhurried way of life.
In the end, the “coolcation” trend simply reminds us of something Italians have always known: the best holidays are the ones where we take the time to truly live.
La Villeggiatura
For me, as a typical Italian, villeggiatura is above all about August, when the whole of Italy seems to come to a standstill.
And today? Although society has changed and the traditional summer break has become shorter, that pause remains sacred.
Forget the checklist of things to do and places to see. The ideal holiday is simply a succession of small, simple pleasures, enjoyed at your own pace—an authentic Art of living.
As Sandrine told me, “Slowing down is the real luxury today.”
The Perfect Plan
The perfect plan? Quite simply, having no plan at all.
So I’ll leave you with my idea of the perfect day, made up of little moments—those little Italian moments to be savoured without rushing.
Wherever you are, you can recreate them. Close your eyes and imagine a yellow house with green shutters… a garden filled with lemon trees in terracotta pots… and the song of cicadas in the summer air. But firts, to really appreciate it all, youo need to start from the LANGUAGE!
Opening the shutters in the morning. The aroma of coffee brewing in the moka pot slowly filling the kitchen. Enjoying breakfast on the terrace or in the garden, without even thinking about the time.
A stroll through the village market, the day’s main event. Sun-ripened tomatoes, a fresh burrata, a handful of fragrant basil, a bottle of wine recommended by the local winemaker. Golden apricots, juicy peaches. Nothing carefully planned, everything delightfully spontaneous—and that’s exactly how it should be.
Cooking together, the radio playing softly in the background, children helping to set the table beneath the pergola, Dad uncorking the bottle of olive oil he bought directly from the producer. Long lunches that seem to stretch on forever, as if every day were Sunday.
The hottest hours of the afternoon unfold in suspended time, with the song of cicadas as the soundtrack. A nap in the shade of the olive trees, a book by the pool, a game of cards under a beach umbrella. No one feels like doing anything else.
As evening approaches, everyone heads out for an ice cream. The gelateria becomes the destination, not just somewhere you happen to stop by. A swim in the sea once the sun has lost its strength, a walk through the vineyards followed by a wine tasting.
Then comes the beloved aperitivo ritual, sitting in the village square: a few olives, some focaccia, a handful of taralli, a glass of Vermentino or a Spritz. The last rays of sunlight during the golden hour bathe the façades in warm colours. Conversations flow effortlessly, as expressive hands dance through the air.
Dinner is served at a long table laid beneath the stars. Everyone has their usual seat. The unspoken rituals of family life. And every time, the same anecdotes, the same stories told once again, the same laughter, while the children play with the neighbour’s cat that has wandered over to say hello. Nothing more is needed to make it a perfect evening.
Finally, with the cool evening breeze, silence settles over the house. It’s time for a good night’s sleep, the windows left slightly open.
Will tomorrow look very much like today? It hardly matters. That’s precisely what makes these holidays so precious.
Yesterday as today, in Italy the best summer days are often the ones with nothing planned
In a Tuscan Village ,my dream…
That is exactly what Sandrine and I hope to share with you through this little story and the immersive experiences we are creating together. We are designing stays where the Italian language becomes the key to fully embracing the dolce vita.
For years I have been organising full immersions for my students to share and communicate exactely these concepts belonging to the italian lifestyle! This year I am trying to realize a dream: sharing all this in a place very close to my heart.
Imagine a small village in Tuscany, away from the crowds yet close to the region’s most beautiful and iconic towns. A place where art is woven into everyday life, where an international community of people in love with the “dolce vita” has settled alongside the locals.
This is where my new life in Tuscany began after twenty years in England. When I arrived, I felt very much like the heroine of Frances Mayes’s “Under the Tuscan Sun”.
And although real life is not a movie, it turned out to be a wonderful adventure all the same.
Together with Sandrine, this is where I would love to begin a new chapter—with all of you.
We’re hard at work turning this dream into reality.
You can subscirbe to our waiting list in order to be the first to know about the new full immersions and to take advantage of a special price. LINK
Have a lovely summer
Sandrine & Chiara