Too Beautiful

After visiting Florence in 1817, the novelist Stendhal wrote, "I was in a sort of ecstasy, from the idea of being in Florence ... Absorbed in the contemplation of sublime beauty, I had palpitations of the heart ... Life was drained from me. I walked with the fear of falling."

Tourists experiencing the Renaissance wonders of Florence very often become disoriented and overwhelmed by the beauty and historical significance of what they see. The condition even has a name: Stendhal syndrome, after its first known patient. It can vary in severity from tingling sensations and crazed gasps at the sight of the Duomo or Michelangelo's David, to actual madness.

A handful of cases on the more severe side are diagnosed in Florence each year. One recent case was that of Mary, a school teacher who visited the city in the 1980s and spent the entire four days of her trip in the psychiatric ward of a hospital.

I arrived in Florence two days ago for a six week stay. I would describe my own case of Stendhal syndrome as mild but extant. Aside from the almost unbearably beautiful works of art and architecture that changed the course of human history, the pasta and gelato are pretty overwhelming too.