Has it ever happened to you that when you find yourself in front of something indescribably beautiful such as a work of art or a landscape, you begin to experience extreme happiness accompanied by many emotions that overtake you? Well, it is possible that you are one of those who have experienced the Stendhal Syndrome..
If you haven’t heard before about what some call the traveler’s disease, here’s what Stendhal syndrome is all about and its close relationship with the fascination for the arts and beauty.
- Related article: “Does music give you goosebumps? You should read this now.”
What is Stendhal Syndrome
Normally, when we are in front of aesthetic stimuli such as art, landscapes, films or other forms of expression that we can consider as samples of beauty, certain sensations are produced in us to a greater or lesser extent depending on each person.
However, there are certain people who are much more sensitive to these stimuli and their reaction to the different manifestations of beauty is quite extraordinary. This type of reaction is known as the Stendhal Syndrome, also called “Florence Syndrome” and “Stendhal’s Syndrome”. “Florence syndrome” and “traveler’s syndrome”..
These are sensations and emotions much more intense than what we would call “normal” to manifestations such as pieces of art that for the one who sees them, have exceptional beauty. These sensations include tachycardia, dizziness, fainting, restlessness, overwhelm, hot flashes, sweating and emotional tension.uneasiness, overwhelming, hot flashes, sweating and emotional tension.
Why is it related to the city of Florence?
The French writer who is known under the pseudonym of Stendhal (his real name is Henri-Marie Beyle) was the first to describe all these intense sensations experienced in Florence. intense sensations that he experienced surrounded by so much beauty.
This happened when he moved to Florence in 1817, motivated by the monumentality of the city, its link with the best Renaissance artists and its magnificent beauty. And it is not for less, even today Florence is one of the most visited cities in Italy due to the great accumulation of art and beauty that has in each of its streets.
- Related article: “The 12 most beautiful cities in Italy that you can visit”.
Stendhal recounted in his diary that, on January 22, 1817, he was walking through the streets of Florence and began to feel ill while in the church of Santa Croce:
“I had reached that degree of emotion in which celestial sensations given by the Beaux Arts and passionate feelings stumble. Leaving Santa Croce, my heart was pounding, life was drained out of me, I walked in fear of falling”.
After being examined by a doctor, he told him that he had an “overdose”. what he had was an “overdose of beauty”.. Thanks to this moment, decades later this set of intense sensations became known as the Stendhal syndrome.
Is it a myth?
Some might claim it is a romantic description of the effect of beauty. the effect of beauty that the writer elaborated after having been in Florence and admired its beauty; but the truth is that decades later, in the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova of Florence, the doctor Graziella Magherini received more than a hundred consultations of tourists and visitors under the same symptoms that Stendhal had described, reason why she classified it as the Syndrome of Stendhal or the syndrome of Florence.
We agree that we have all experienced different sensations such as crying stimulated by a movie, getting goose bumps and our hearts racing at the sound of a song or finding ourselves in front of a building that stands out for its beauty. So, is it possible that these sensations become so intense in some people as to be determined as a syndrome? as to determine it as a syndrome?
There are scientists and psychologists who accept the Stendhal syndrome and all its symptomatology; they have also identified the most severe symptoms of the syndrome such as amnesia, anxiety or panic attacks and paranoia. In this sense, it is worth clarifying that it is not a mental disorder that has been defined.
There are a few others who still question whether rather with globalization giving us greater access to information so there are more and more people knowing about the symptom, adding to an increase in global travel resulting also in the increase in the number of travelers to Florence, it could be more of a process of suggestion or a self-induced reaction..
It is possible, according to the detractors, that since the symptoms of the Stendhal syndrome are associated with happiness, ecstasy, such an intense experience in discovering such an intense experience of discovering beautythat many of us are rather eager to experience something similar. In any case, and as we have already mentioned, if we are all awakened by emotions and sensations in contact with art and beauty, why not believe in the Stendhal syndrome?