THE ANTIDOTE TO
STENDHAL'S SYNDROME
ITALY ADAGIO
Following his visit to Florence in 1817, the French writer Stendhal (pen name of Marie-Henri Beyle, author of The Red and the Black) described a rather particular response that he'd had after viewing Giotto's frescoes in the Franciscan church of Santa Croce. This response came to be known as "Stendhal's Syndrome".
The symptoms of this psychosomatic condition are rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion, and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art – usually when the art is particularly beautiful, or a large amount of art is seen in a single place or within a brief period of time. |
The syndrome was officially named in 1979, when it was described by Italian psychiatrist Graziella Magherini. She'd observed and described more than 100 similar cases among tourists in Florence.
I first heard the term "Stendhal's Syndrome" several years before Dr. Magherini gave that name to the cluster of symptoms she'd observed. And I had heard a rather different story.
Several different people had told me that when Stendhal had been in Florence, he tried taking in as much as he could of the Renaissance city's treasure trove of art. Then one day he simply disappeared from sight.
After a week or so, his worried friends began searching for him, and finally they went to the room he was renting. There they found him curled up on the floor in a corner of his room in a semi-catatonic state. As it turned out, Stendhal had seen and taken in too much beauty! He was suffering from a serious case of what we today commonly call "sensory overload".
Several different people had told me that when Stendhal had been in Florence, he tried taking in as much as he could of the Renaissance city's treasure trove of art. Then one day he simply disappeared from sight.
After a week or so, his worried friends began searching for him, and finally they went to the room he was renting. There they found him curled up on the floor in a corner of his room in a semi-catatonic state. As it turned out, Stendhal had seen and taken in too much beauty! He was suffering from a serious case of what we today commonly call "sensory overload".
This far more dramatic story is no doubt apocryphal. (It doesn't even include the cluster of medical symptoms that Stendhal himself described.) But I've never been able to erase this cautionary tale from my mind. And this is probably why years ago I changed the name, and goals, of my little company from "Tour Italy" to "Italy Adagio" – Italy at an easy, unhurried pace.
~ Daniel Lesnick