Why are people hallucinating and fainting in Florence?

Has it ever happened to you, that you saw a piece of art and you started crying? For no apparent reason? It could be seeing a painting from Rothko, visiting Pantheon in Rome for the first time or walking into Sixtine Chapel. Maybe it was listening to a song or reading a poem.

Happens to me. Not all the time, but it does. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, please don't feel worried about me. It’s absolutely normal. It's like the next level of goosebumps. Or the next level of that face that musicians and music lovers make when the beat drops. But what if I told you there is another level to this?

To fully understand, we need to go to Florence for a few minutes. Virtually, will do for now.

Florence is considered by many academics the birthplace of the Renaissance. City in Central Italy, capital of Tuscany, politically, economically and culturally one of the most important cities in the world during medieval times. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Dante, Machiavelli, Galileo, Vespucci and Medici family… That is the significance of Florence.

Now Imagine being an admirer of art, architecture and history and you arrive here. It's like Disney Land for art lovers. Statues, frescoes, domes, altarpieces, fountains all housed in another masterpiece. The architecture. Renaissance was a time when the artists were generalists. One year Giotto paints a fresco, the next he is designing one of the most iconic bell towers. This way, so many buildings resulted as works of art.

In 2019, it was my first time in Florence. I always said that I wanted to research it fully before going there. It's something like Tokyo. I don't want to just go there and go with the flow. Some cities just don't deserve to be treated like that.

Little did I know, that I would not have the capacity to absorb what was happening around me. Sometimes I even felt strange. Is it possible that there is something about this city that made me feel weird? I googled it. Turns out, I AM NORMAL! They even have a name for it!!! It is called Florence syndrome or Stendhal syndrome.

So this guy Stendhal, french author, went for a trip to Italy and when in 1817 visited The Basilica di Santa Croce, he wrote this:

“I was in a sort of ecstasy, from the idea of being in Florence, close to the great men whose tombs I had seen. Absorbed in the contemplation of sublime beauty... As I emerged from the porch of Santa Croce, I was seized with a fierce palpitation of the heart; the wellspring of life was dried up within me, and I walked in constant fear of falling to the ground.“

This is The Basilica di Santa Croce:

The basilica is also known as the Temple of the Italian Glories. It is the burial place of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli and many others. All in one place. The peak of human ability and creation. No wonder Stendhal also started questioning his existence here.

The syndrome got its name later, by a Florentine psychiatrist. She studied more than 100 patients between 1977 and 1986 that experienced acute psychiatric symptoms after viewing the art of Florence. She found out, that it happens to a lot of tourists (more European than American, never Italian!). The symptoms include temporary panic attacks, dizziness, hallucinations, disorientation, loss of identity, and physical exhaustion. Usually lasting two or three days. Disappearing when people leave the city… Interesting, right?

However, I need to clarify here, that this syndrome is not listed as a recognised condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

But I am judging by my own experience. Also this is not the first time that a historic figure has mentioned such feelings. Many artists, travellers and philosophers were writing about aesthetically stimulating objects and places that induce physical sensations. Of course, in plenty of cases, it could be just an Illusory correlation. People believing that their physical state was connected to the art/place instead of just being… well… thirsty or tired. But honestly… I believe there is something worth pondering about. Why do we get goosebump? Why do we cry in galleries? Art is powerful. And same cerebral areas involved in emotional reactions are activated during the exposure to artworks.

More of Florence:

If this topic interests you, there is a documentary on Paris Syndrome that analyses the cultural implications of travel-related mental illnesses. You can also read more in depth description of the Florence syndrome in the essay by Asli Yayak.

So… have you ever experienced anything like this? Have you ever been in a presence of art that overpassed your limit of comprehension and made you collapse emotionally? Or physically?