Women in War

Women in war are rarely the center of attention in traditional narratives. For generations, the spotlight has fallen on the men in uniform—the ones marching, fighting, commanding, and appearing in history books. With a few well-known exceptions, women were cast as supporting characters in wartime, relegated to the “home front” or rendered invisible altogether.

Women in War: fighters and influencers

For years, our work has focused on taking families across the battlefields of Italy and France to follow in the footsteps of the Nisei soldiers—a privilege, and one we will continue with pride. But the story of the war is larger, more intricate, and more human than what happens at the front lines. The Allied armies relied on networks of resistance across Europe, and those resistance movements relied, in turn, on the quiet, persistent, and often dangerous work of women.

Women were present everywhere in the war effort—sometimes openly, sometimes in ways history has not always acknowledged. Many served in uniform, like the Nisei women who joined the Women’s Army Corps or the nurses who held the Army Medical Corps together. Others fought in combat units, like the Italian Partigiane who helped liberate their own towns. Yet others reinforced the ruling ideology. Both through the domestic ideal projected by Nazi wives and through the forceful messaging of the Fasci Femminili in Mussolini’s Italy. Altogether, they shaped political decisions from the shadows, as Mussolini’s wife, daughter, and mistresses wielded influence behind the scenes. And they carried the heaviest daily burdens—feeding families, hiding partisans, protecting children, and navigating impossible choices.

Their actions—of courage, complicity, resistance, survival—left marks that extended far beyond 1945. Even as societies tried to push women back into traditional roles after the war, their impact endured.

Women’s actions that shape today’s world

Our new Women in War tour explores these intertwined stories. Above all, it focuses on the many ways women became entangled in the upheavals of the Second World War. Whether that was by conviction, circumstance, or necessity. A journey that pairs history with cultural experiences rooted in place: a wartime-inspired cooking class, an Italian fashion workshop, a garden visit… All tied to where these stories unfolded.

In short, this is not simply a history tour. It is an invitation to reflect on how communities rebuild, how institutions endure and how traditions evolve. But above all, it shows how women—often quietly, often without recognition—shape the moral fabric of their societies.

Not just a history lesson: great experiences!

The stories we encounter are inspiring, unsettling, and profoundly human. Moreover, they resist neat categories of “good” and “bad.” Instead, they ask how lives lived in extraordinary times continue to resonate in our own time. For travelers who care about civil rights, political agency, and the ongoing struggle for justice, this tour offers a way to understand the past. Not as distant history but as a mirror—one that reflects the choices we face today. All of this combined with unique and enjoyable experiences like cooking classes, garden visits, fashion workshops, tastings,…!