Malattia D'amore ✦ Simple

In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, physicians treated love not as a metaphor, but as a pathological condition of the "estimative faculty".

: The term frequently appears in Italian songs (like those by Ricchi e Poveri) to describe the bittersweet, overwhelming feeling of falling in love that feels like a "sweet illness". Marilena Panarelli, Per cacciar la malinconia delle femine Malattia d'amore

: It was classified as a form of melancholy . Symptoms included a pale complexion, insomnia, loss of appetite (leading to emaciation), and a "disturbed pulse rate" that spiked when the beloved's name was mentioned. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, physicians treated

: His Canzoniere is a masterclass in the "failing search for self-possession" caused by obsessive love, depicting it as a "fatal multiplicity" that obstructs the mind. Symptoms included a pale complexion, insomnia, loss of

Today, "Malattia d'amore" survives more as a cultural and artistic trope than a medical diagnosis.

: Medieval medical texts, such as those by Avicenna, suggested the brain was "misled" into believing one specific person was more noble and desirable than all others, causing the spirit to "wander through emptiness".