A native magistrate of Monterotondo, of secular and reformist culture, Francesco Giovagnoli became involved in the revolutionary experience of the Roman Republic, and when he fell he was sent to confinement by pontifical tribunals.

Meanwhile, the young man had already shown very precocious signs of intellectual curiosity: introduced to Ancient Roman history, at just ten years of age he had finished reading the classic historians, which was followed by studies of philosophy and Italian and Latin literature in the decade 1850–59, in Monterotondo, where his father was confined.

Giovagnoli wrote the novel at the café of Valle theater, where a group of intellectuals gathered, including Luigi Arnaldo Vassallo and Pietro Cossa, with whom the scholar formed the League of spelling.

Returning to the press, he fervently engaged in various journalistic activities: he helped found the newspaper La Capitale which he directed for a few months but which he disagreed with the publishing property passing to Il Diavolo rosa .

He manifested his radical ideas through the writings in the press, with attacks on Alfonso La Marmora accused of giving in to the Church, and raising criticism of the corruption of Bettino Ricasoli politics.

He also held the office of municipal and provincial councilor in the decade between the seventies and eighties, elected in the districts of Rome and Tivoli, fighting in favor of the farmers and people of Lazio affected by the consequences of the earthquake of 1892.