Many of Sophia's stories about her life in Sicily take place in 1922, including some where she details being a young woman having romantic relationships.

As a teenager, while living in a village in Sicily, Sophia was briefly engaged to a young man, Augustine Bagatelli.

[5] Sophia later married Salvadore "Sal" Petrillo (played in flashbacks by Sid Melton) and had three children with him, including Dorothy, now a divorced substitute teacher; and Phil (an unseen character), a cross-dresser with a wife named Angela.

Sophia's other daughter, Gloria (played by Doris Belack and later Dena Dietrich), lived in California and married into money but later lost her husband to an unknown cause.

She made reference to several vendettas, and it was even hinted that Sophia herself had done mob work; she once stated that no one in her family had "ever left a body to be found".

The list of people she claims to have "cursed" included Shelley Long, the Baltimore Colts, the New York Jets, Giuseppe Mangiacavallo (the boy who stood her up at the altar), and Leonard Barton (the girls' next-door neighbor who expressed a disdain for Italians).

In the final season, Sophia spent two episodes doing odd tasks in order to save Dorothy from an ancient curse from a Sicilian strega, or witch.

Sophia began to show signs of senile dementia, usually in comical situations (for instance, she is shown to be standing still and apparently unconscious while attempting to operate a vacuum cleaner), and her bluntness was toned down to a certain extent.

Sophia is best known for her wisecracks, put-downs and brazen remarks, often commenting on Dorothy's unmarried state, Blanche's promiscuity, and Rose's cluelessness.

These stories usually also involved historical figures, with Sophia claiming to have had trysts with Pablo Picasso, Sigmund Freud, and Winston Churchill, among others.

In an early episode, Sophia's brother stated that their mother died seventy-two years earlier just as Angelo was about to become a priest (which he did not do).

During the series' run, Sophia resembled the archetypal "old lady" in looks: White-haired, small stature, wrinkles, and large-framed eyeglasses.

She owned a tan bamboo handbag which became her personal trademark, as she carried the purse everywhere, even around the house (including the bathroom).

[11] Outside The Golden Girls, Sophia appears on two episodes of Empty Nest ("Libby's Gift" and "Windy") before becoming a regular for the final two seasons.