Donne e montagna: viaggi e scritture femminili sulle Alpi occidentali tra XIX e XX secolo

[Machine translation] During the 19th century, various female figures visited Alpine valleys and peaks more and more often. No longer passive presences or exceptional hikers, mountaineers multiplied, covering and describing those regions traditionally considered most suitable for exhibiting and strengthening virile values, such as competition, concentration and strength, physical and mental temperament. In reality, women were never completely absent from these scenarios, but few left written testimony of their experience. The essay focuses on some representatives of the Victorian upper-middle bourgeoisie who rework their Alpine experiences by producing specific mountain literature for women. While mainly taking up traditionally masculine narrative modes, women's Alpine writings present a variety of comments, impressions, sensitivities and concerns, so as to demonstrate that female mountaineers were not simple, bizarre or unwitting gregarious, but made a personal contribution to the process of so-called Alpine construction that began during the golden age of modern mountaineering.