The article aims at presenting an overview of «alternative» cartographies, i. e. cartographies that do not represent real territories but rather emotional and immaterial phenomena. The use of the «objective» and «scientific» language of cartography in order to map mobile and dynamics subjects such as emotions, feelings, dreams, opinions create an expressive short circuit that is often used by artists and writers. After a brief historical and theoretical introduction, the author analyzes two fields in which the production of alternative cartography has been particularly relevant: the sentimental maps and the literary maps. Last, a few notes about the role of the alternative cartographies in the history and teaching of cartography is presented.