Butler, B; (2019) Rome Syndrome – Tourism, Heritage and Guidebooks at the ‘Crossroads of the real and the ideal’. In: Fogelberg Rota, S and Blennow, A, (eds.) Proceedings of the Topoi, Topographies and Travellers Conference. (pp. pp. 9-27). The Swedish Institute in Rome: Rome, Italy.

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Abstract

The critical journey of this paper raises the question: is there a Rome Syndrome? This quest arises in response to the growing interest in the genre of Significant or Well-known Place Syndromes that in turn have relevancy to the theme of this research project by offering novel insights into the complex interactions and relationships between ‘topoi, topographies and travellers’. These syndromes, as the name suggests, are triggered by the movement of travellers to places that exert a powerful hold on the imagination and describe the sudden onset of extreme, and overwhelming emotions that in turn manifest in strange/unexpected/spontaneous/paradoxical patterns of behaviours. The phenomena encompass destinations that have become idealised and desired, as we shallsee, in some cases feared and demonised. The iconic sites of the Acropolis, Florence, Paris, the Whitehouse and Jerusalem2 have entered the syndrome canon and have seen heritage questing and traveller behaviours thus encompass whole spectrums of emotions: – from intense passion, desire, fever, ecstasy and joy to crisis, breakdown, depression, neurosis, and psychosis.

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