maddening beauty: the city so beautiful it makes people ill

have you ever been so awe-struck by the beauty of something it made you ill? no? well, maybe you just haven’t been to florence. for some, the overwhelming experience of florence and its beauty is just too much. home to a dizzying amount of incredible art, from the statue of david to botticelli’s birth of venus, a sojourn in the city makes for an intense experience that can range from overwhelming awe to fainting or even a heart attack. known as stendhal syndrome, the affliction is a psychosomatic condition caused by exposure to items or phenomena of great beauty. symptoms include an increased heart rate, fainting, and even hallucinations. the french writer marie-henri beyle, more famously known as stendhal, is attributed with the name of the condition. of his visit to the city 1817, he wrote, "I was in a sort of ecstasy from the idea of being in florence… I was seized with a fierce palpitation of the heart… the well-spring of life was dried up within me, and I walked in constant fear of falling to the ground."

the beauty-induced sickness is said to affect 10-20 visitors a year, and curiously, has been observed nowhere else in the world. certainly, its the sheer concentration of art and architecture in the tuscan city that makes walking its streets such an intense experience, where every street corner, light fixture, and tile emanates a sense of craftsmanship and elegance.

there’s a long history of certain places having distinct psychological impacts on those who visit them. jerusalem syndrome is another affliction where those visiting the holy city experience religious delusions, and paris syndrome is the experience of those who find that the real paris does not live up to its romantic image. there’s certainly something to be said about the whimsy and giddy excitement about being in a new place. and while we’d hope to remain standing on our own too feet, if you don’t feel just a little light headed, have you really experience florence?

"I was in a sort of ecstasy from the idea of being in Florence… I was seized with a fierce palpitation of the heart… the well-spring of life was dried up within me, and I walked in constant fear of falling to the ground."