Cittaslow


Cittaslow is an organisation founded in Italy and inspired by the slow food movement. Cittaslow's goals include improving the quality of life in towns by slowing down its overall pace, especially in a city's use of spaces and the flow of life and traffic through them.
As of November 2025, Cittaslow has 308 members, 221 in Europe, 71 in Asia, 6 in North America, 4 in South America, 4 in Oceania, and 2 in Africa. Countries with most members are Italy, Poland, Turkey, Germany, China, South Korea, France and Spain.

History

Cittaslow was founded in Italy in October 1999, following a meeting organised by the mayor of Greve in Chianti, Tuscany. A 54-point charter was developed, encouraging high quality local food and drink, general conviviality and the opposition to cultural standardisation. In 2001, 28 Italian towns were signed up to the pledge, certified by trained operatives of Cittaslow.
The first Slow City in the English-speaking world was Ludlow, England, in 2003. In 2004, Reszel became the first Polish town to join Cittaslow, and several soon followed with the number growing to 12 by September 2013 and to 37 by November 2025, making Poland the country with the second highest number of member towns.
The movement expanded broadly beyond Italy and, by 2006, national Cittaslow networks existed in Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom. In March of 2007 the South Australian town of Goolwa was declared a Cittaslow member and became the first Non-European to gain Cittaslow membership. By 2007, several slow cities had been introduced across South Korea.
By mid-2009, fourteen countries had at least one officially accredited Cittaslow community. In July 2009, the small seaside village of Cowichan Bay in Canada became the North American continent's first Cittaslow town. In June 2011, Gökçeada in Turkey became the first and only Cittaslow island. As of September 2013, Cittaslow had 177 members, the most in Italy, Poland, South Korea, Germany, Turkey and France.
In October 2020, Izmir, Turkey's 3rd metropolitan municipality, has become The First Cittaslow Metropolis of the World.

Membership

There are three categories of membership: Cittaslow town ; Cittaslow Supporter ; and Cittaslow Friend.
Like Slow Food, Cittaslow is a membership organisation. Full membership of Cittaslow is only open to towns with a population under 50,000. To become eligible for membership, a town must normally score at least 50 percent in a self-assessment process against the set of Cittaslow goals, and then apply for admission to the appropriate Cittaslow national network. An annual membership fee is payable by towns.
The first town in England to become a Cittaslow city was Ludlow in November 2003; the first in Wales was Mold. There are currently three towns in the UK that are members.
Pijao, a small town in Colombia, is to become the first Cittaslow city in Latin America.
Polish Cittaslow towns participate in the annual Cittaslow Towns Festival, hosted each year by a different member town in Poland. The first festival took place in 2010 in Reszel.
Some localitites withdrew from the organization, including Diss, UK, Fairfax, California, US, Ludlow, UK, Perth, UK, Taraklı, Turkey, and Wydminy, Poland.

Members

The goals and aims

There are 50 goals and principles that each Cittaslow town commits to work to achieve. They serve as benchmarks to improve the quality of life in each city.
The main aims of the movement are:
  • making life better for everyone living in an urban environment
  • improving the quality of life in the cities
  • resisting the homogenization and globalization of towns around the globe
  • protecting the environment
  • promoting cultural diversity and uniqueness of individual cities
  • providing inspiration for a healthier lifestyle