[2] She was an admired member of the Arcadian Academy, whose work is noted today for its strong defense of women and anticipation of gender theory.

[4] Her father, Baron of Ortona dei Marsi and Gentleman of the Colonna, was considered to be a highly cultured and successful politician, her mother "thoughtful, introvert and lover of solitude.

Massimi, at that time aged 40, was a soldier with noble rank but a reputedly callous nature, then keeper of the Castel Sant'Angelo, Rome's notorious prison.

[5] Petronilla would later write about these events, as in her poem, "Unbind Your Angered Tresses," in which she bluntly mourned: "the strong hand of fate/Joined the fair April of my years/to alien old age.

As early as 1696, she was collaborating with Carlo Agostino Badia, providing the texts for several of his oratorios, including the Legend of the Cross (Italian: L'Invenzione Della Croce).