In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, physicians treated love not as a metaphor, but as a pathological condition of the "estimative faculty".
: Boccaccio specifically dedicated this work to women suffering from the "melancholy" of love, noting that they often suffered more than men because they were confined to their homes without the distractions of business or travel. Malattia d'amore
: 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. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, physicians treated
Italian authors have long used malattia d'amore as a central theme to explore human vulnerability and social structures. Italian authors have long used malattia d'amore as
: 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".
: Historical remedies ranged from distraction and travel to more extreme measures like "sexual congress" or, in famous medical anecdotes, simply marrying the object of desire to restore balance to the humors. Lovesickness in Italian Literature
Today, "Malattia d'amore" survives more as a cultural and artistic trope than a medical diagnosis.