Born on 10 August 1519[2][3] at the family castle at Valentano in Tuscany (current province of Viterbo),[4] Vittoria was the first child and only daughter of Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Castro, Parma and Piacenza, and Gerolama Orsini.

[3] The several marriage projects in which Vittoria was considered were handled by her paternal grandfather, Pope Paul III and her brother, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese.

His late wife Giulia da Varano bring as a dowry the Duchy of Camerino, but failed to provide a surviving male heir for her husband, thus the Duke of Urbino began preparations for a new marriage.

Negotiations for the marriage of Vittoria and Guidobaldo II della Rovere were led by Cardinals Alessandro Farnese and Ercole Gonzaga.

[8] According to contemporary sources, the Duchess was well aware of all matters in the possessions of her husband and used this in favor of her grandfather-pontiff to strengthen the position of the Duchy of Urbino.

In 1569 she managed to convince her brother-in-law, Cardinal Giulio della Rovere, to cede the Duchy of Sora to his nephew Francesco Maria, Vittoria's son.

But due to disagreements that arose between them, in July 1582 she left for her homeland Parma, where she supported her niece Margherita Farnese after her unsuccessful marriage with Vincenzo Gonzaga, Hereditary Prince of Mantua.

The following year, Vittoria returned to Urbino to arranged the marriage of her youngest daughter Lavinia Feltria, giving her a dowry in the amount of 80,000 scudi.

Lucrezia returned to Ferrara but continued to be the Duchess consort of Urbino until her death in 1598, when Francesco Maria II was finally free to remarry —the bride was the Duke's second cousin, 14-year-old Livia della Rovere, who was chosen by Vittoria herself.

The Duke of Urbino wasn't happy in this second union, too, but managed to produce the long-hoped heir, Federico Ubaldo della Rovere, born in 1605, three years after Vittoria's death.