L’alpinismo al femminile

Based on a qualitative and quantitative approach, this essay reconstructs the presence of women in the social and cultural history of mountaineering from the pioneering age to the 1970s. Around the middle of the 19th century many descriptions of alpine ascents made by women are characterized by a subordinated position with men (father, brother or husband) and with a clear detachment with the mountain guides. In developing a quantitative point of view this essay analyses the female inscriptions into different sections of the Club Alpino Italiano between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the opportunity of female inscription to the main European alpine clubs and the constitution of ladies’ alpine clubs. The final part of the essay is dedicated to some short biographies of women who made important ascents during 1930s