Discovering art

I appreciate the arts, all of them, in fact. There are artists and then there are art lovers. I fall into the second category. I encourage and applaud those with innate artistic abilities--like my daughters. I exclaim: great colors, interesting design, and 'I wouldn't have thought of that.'

Art is at every turn in Florence--architecture, painting, music--some forms more prosaic than others. In some of the tour guides I perused, the term "Stendhalism" describes how overwhelming the quantity of art is. Defined as a diagnosable psychological syndrome where people pass out, or faint, while experiencing an excess of awe in the face of beauty, Stendhalism "... was named for the French poet Stendhal because purportedly he was so dazed he could barely walk while admiring the beauty of Santa Croce (apparently he wrote eloquently on the subject in his 'book Naples and Florence: A Journey from Milan to Reggio)."

I may have a major case of Stendhalism.