Seeking recommendations for sneakers that can pass for dress shoes

Look at Ecco brand. They make excellent shoes, and their dark leather oxford type sneakers would be great. Clarks is another option.
I shop from Zappos--free delivery and returns.

Allbirds has some good choices too.

Instead of sacrificing your feet, you might consider bring along a very lightweight pair of shoes for going out. For example, I bring a pair of Toms to wear - both shoes are only 13 oz. (size 10) and I can tuck them in just about anywhere in my luggage. Or a pair of black ballet flats, which will weight even less and can be made even smaller by folding them up.

Your feet may be different than mine, but when I'm walking 5-8 miles a day when traveling, I want very sturdy walking shoes that are well broken in. But that's me - YMMV. :)

Part of this is going to depend on your foot and what feels good to you. I have awful feet and just wear my athletic shoes everywhere. I don't eat high end though so I've not felt uncomfortable in the athletic shoes anywhere.

Religious sites will probably be fine with your athletic shoes as well. If they are on the radar for tourism there will be plenty of them.

I, personally, like Altra athletic shoes but they have a zero drop platform which might not work for your. I'm taking the Torin 5 leather this next trip but in previous trips I've worn their Lone Peak line. This year all the colors for the Lone Peak are garish and I want to have black or mostly black. The Altras have a very wide forefoot which accommodates the CorrectToes toe spacers I wear to strengthen my feet.

It would help to know if you are a male or female.

For men, I will recommend the sneaker my husband wears as his “dress shoe” in Europe—-the Ecco Soft 7 in black smooth leather. They are comfortable and supportive for walking, but also look nice,mnot at all like an athletic shoe.

https://us.ecco.com/men/collections/soft-7/

They are available from Zappos, Amazon, and other sources, sometimes on sale.

We we just returned from 3 weeks in Italy and he felt appropriately dressed for dinner in nice restaurants in those shoes. He wore regular running shoes for our daytime walks.

We noticed that a lot of shop windows in nice stores in Bologna and other cities showed leather sneakers like that worn with mens’ spring outfits, from casual wear to business suits.

Personally, I don't think it's a good idea to bring only one pair of shoes. What if you get caught in a rainstorm and your shoes/sneakers get very, very wet? I really think you need at least 2 pairs of footwear. So perhaps a pair of study sneakers and a pair of study shoes that would be appropriate for restaurants.

I tend to agree--my daytime shoes definitely need a rest overnight!

Case in point for at least two pairs of shoes.

Last fall in Florence my walking shoes got absolutely soaking wet in a downpour returning from dinner. It took two days to get them dried out, leaving them on the windowsill in the sun and stuffed with paper towels! They are a minimum style leather zero drop shoe so there wasn’t that much to hold the moisture but really, I think I could have wrung water out of them.
I dislike having more than 3 pairs of shoes with me, but I actually had four pairs that trip. One pair Ecco sandals for days when I wanted lots of support(wore them on the plane) and 3 pairs of Softstar shoes. Those 3 pair took up the equivalent of one pair of regular shoes and I wore each pair a lot.

Depending on your style, you may be happy with a pair of white leather tennis shoes. My pumas were excellent with pants and also sundresses. Perhaps not with mud, though...so depends also on where you are going.

I highly recommend taking two pairs of shoes (wear a pair, pack a pair) and alternating daily. You never know when they might get wet, or just rub your feet the wrong way with all the constant walking. Comfortable, casual walking shoes are acceptable and appropriate just about everywhere.

I travel very light because I often bicycle tour up to 100 miles a day. I also go into nice restaurants and don't always want a sports look.

I bring one pair of multisport appropriate running shoes and one pair of sandals.

Sandals specifically are the EVA Birkenstocks. A) they weight a little over 200 grams or 8 ounces for the pair. Crazy light. B) They look like regular Birks unless someone is really staring at your feet, and then they still basically look like regular Birks. C) Birks are fine/normal in Europe - they bridge your needs from shower flip flops to casual shoe with socks and long pants. D) after a long day in shoes, I need to let my feet breath. I've known you're up trip with two pairs of closed shoes before, and it was a mistake.

So the EVA plastic Birkenstocks are my rock. They are anchor my footwear.

And then a set of multisport athletic shoes that are mellow looking and don't stand out too much with long pants and a dressed up shirt. I've done Hokas for a while but they are so big and chunky. And I've also done Altras, I can't handle the look of the clown shoe toe box, particularly in Europe where shoes tend to be a little more sleek.

I'm currently wearing (like as I type) Brooks Ghost 15's in the gray color. Compared to the Ghost 14's and 13's, The Ghost 15 has a roomier toe box and more muted color choices. Reasonably presentable in gray with small orange accents, or more or less disappear into more dressed up outfits in all black.

https://www.brooksrunning.com/en_us/ghost-15-mens-cushioned-running-shoe/110393.html

I'd like it they were a little bit stiffer so as to be better on the bike, and still a little less flashy running shoe looking. But they are well padded, have a tough sole that grips well when hiking on dirt, and really are fine for what I do on a trip.

Unlike my plastic Birks though I'm still feeling like I'm in the multi-sport travel shoe churn. Happy dating the Brooks Ghost 15 for the moment at least.

As for shoes getting wet, do as long distance through hikers do, and let your shoes get wet. If you are wearing lightweight synthetic shoes with meshy uppers, they will dry faster than the rest of you does.

Don't bother with the Gore-Tex version of any given shoe - your goal is a shoe that dries fast, not a shoe that holds out water (until it doesn't and then becomes a slow drying bathtub). I say this as a person who experienced at least 10 full body drenching afternoon rains bike touring in the Alps last summer. My meshy quick drying shoes were always fine to walk into a hotel 20 minutes after the downpour stopped.

From experience and as others said, take two pairs of shoes. My feet are a mess. Last year I took Alegria sport shoes, Ryka sneakers and Fitflop sandals. I almost left the sandals home but was soooo glad I didn't. First day wearing the sport shoes I got a shoe bruise on top of my toe (yes, the shoes were well broken in so I don't know why), so they stayed in my suitcase for four weeks. I wore the Ryka's most of the trip, averaging 6 miles walking a day. But they got drenched in Trieste's pouring rain, which soaked my socks and rehurt my toe (nothing like wringing rainwater out of your socks on the train back to Venice). So I wore the sandals for a few days for toe relief, walking 6 miles a day. This year the Alegria stay home, I'm trying out a new pair of Ryka right now, and the sandals will definitely be packed.
You never know what will happen on your trip, so have two pair of shoes you can walk in. Religious sites don't care about your shoes. Sandals will work if you need to dress up for dinner.

I agree with everyone else who suggests to bring 2 pairs. A good athletic shoe--everyone wears athletic shoes like tennis shoes or running shoes. I found a brand in Europe via the RS tour guide--Reiker--they are available here in the states too. You can walk in them and also have a pair that would be more "dressy." It's nice that you are being considerate of potential dress codes and respect for religious sites and nicer establishments.