From Act IV of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull

MEDVEDENKO: In your travels abroad, doctor, what was your favorite city?

DR. DORN: Genoa.

MEDVEDENKO: Why Genoa?

DR. DORN: In Genoa there is a splendid street life. When you step out of your hotel in the evening, you become part of the throng. You find yourself moving along with it, with no particular goal, first one way, then another, with no special pattern. You breathe with the crowd, you lose yourself in it, and you begin to believe that a single world spirit could actually be possible.