"Finding oneself is the South and will remain the metamorphosis of his metamorphosis. Similarly in his life, Goethe's trip to Italy was a decisive rupture of this kind: he too, finds refuge in Italy to discover his true self, to move from slavery to freedom and from a "just vegetative" to a creative life.

He gets ill and suffers from the darkness and the winter's cold weather. Attracted by light and great clarity, he too, as soon as he walks on Italian's ground, feels a violent explosion of elementary and intimate sensitivity, an expansion and delivery, a need for new freedom.

While Goethe finds an artistic style in Italy, he discovers a lifestyle."