[2] In Il trionfo della morte there are already some significant references to the thought of the German philosopher, but it is only with The Virgins of the Rocks that Nietzsche's acquisition, as a literary suggestion and stimulus, becomes more clear.

In giving life to the figure of the protagonist of the novel, the Vate is informed by the Übermensch.

The virgins of the rocks, initially published in installments on the Convito,[2] was to constitute the first book of a cycle (I romanzi del giglio) that D'Annunzio would later give up completing, despite having already sketched the main themes of the other two works he had designed, whose titles should have been: The Grace and The Annunciation (followed by a short Epilogue).

It is possible that the last two novels of the trilogy never saw the light due to the writer's inability to depart from the theme of paternity, together with the difficulty "to renew in the second and third volumes the ways and the intensity of style that support or enhance the first… ".

[4] According to the 2009 American book Nietzsche, Godfather of Fascism?, The Maidens of the Rocks can be seen as "D'Annunzio's own political manifesto of the Übermensch.