The book deals with women travellers in Northen Europe, situating the target authors in their historical context and drawing the women's background of the time. It creates, first of all, an overall image; secondly, as no study has so far focused on travelogues written by Italian women about this area, the book aims at filling up this gap with their reports, written between the end of the XIX and the first decades of the XX century. Besides retrieving these forgotten travelogues, this study concentrates on each author's gaze on the itinerary, expressed in a narrative that enables the readers to share both the authors’ emotional status and their frame of mind.
An accurate synthesis of each travelogue allows to proceed to a comparative study among them, based on their most relevant characteristics: the chosen itinerary, the encounters, the cultural impact of the target countries on each woman writer. 
As the itineraries take place along the usual touristic routes of the time, the book is rather concerned on the writers’ emotional experience, first of all towards the places they visit and the atypical natural landscapes they encounter along the journey.
Thereafter, it analyses the authors’ thorough curiosity and deep interest towards the Other, either represented by casual encounters along the route, or seen as a category, as in the case of the Sami people. A specific focus is devoted to Nordic women, whose social position and role, especially in the urban areas, arise the writers’ attention. 
Also the attitude towards culture, either focused on everyday life or concerning the different aspects of Nordic folklore, is described; cultural institutions, as well as some historical, economical, and political features are presented in these reports. 
These travelogues are set into a more general hodoeporic perspective, with particular attention to Italian women’s writings, opening at the same time the path to a deeper analysis of each report and its author.