SOUTHERN ITALY ACCORDING TO TWO EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY WOMEN TRAVELLERS. A HISTORICAL APPROACH

For centuries, the South has been the part of Italy that has most captured the imagination of foreigners and visitors in general, but until the second half of the eighteenth century, venturing into the southern territories meant facing an uncomfortable journey. Many important issues have emerged from the complex historiographical reconstruction of the modern Mezzogiorno, sometimes providing data that cannot be taken for granted and goes far beyond stereotypes, abstractions, and cliches. This paper will trace some of the stages of women's travel in the Kingdom of Naples during the second half of the eighteenth century, focusing on a number of female travellers who explored the territory and sought to make it known through their writings. In doing so, they also questioned certain aspects of travel literature as a historical source to narrate the Mezzogiorno. Who were these women, and what compelled them to travel to countries that-in the popular imagination of the time-were in a state of misery? How did they experience journeys that often provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to affirm their identities, including their literary ones? The paper also aims to demonstrate the importance of gender in the overall female travel experience.