Although pilgrimage characterised Christianity from its beginnings, the fourth century saw a dramatic increase of travelling to the Holy Land and Jerusalem, Constantinople, and Rome. This is reflected in a boom of "itineraria": texts describing the routes to and from the holy sites, as well as the places and monuments encountered along the way. These works did not just have a utilitarian function as a travel guide, but were also conceived as pieces of literature that could be read and appreciated for their narrative content, language, and way of composition. This becomes clear from the high degree of narrative elaboration and sophistication characterising itineraria, as well as the attention that is paid to their textual presentation in the manuscripts: texts are outlined in particular manners, written in different colours of ink, and enriched with images. Because scholarship has mostly focused on individual texts and/or their importance as sources of historical information, a literary and comprehensive study of the form and function of itineraria is still lacking. I will provide such a study, analysing the literary strategies underlying the construction of travel descriptions both at the level of the narrative content and their textual and iconographical presentation in the physical codex. I aim to show how itineraria, through their literary technique, allow the audience to go on an imaginative tour by reading, and thus function as important means of spiritual growth.