ABSTRACT
Camilla Faa's life can be read as an example of how unprotected women are in a system in which people in positions of authority can dictate all rules and change all laws. Born into an influential family in the Monferrato region (her father Ardizzino was ambassador to the Gonzagas and her mother Margherita Fassati was a wealthy local heiress), Camilla was educated in a convent before becoming lady-in-waiting at the Gonzaga Court in Mantua. She was fifteen when Duke Ferdinando Gonzaga started to woo her while also trying to convince her father of the seriousness of his intentions. Before long Camilla and Ferdinando were secretly married. Happiness was short lived. Their son was not yet born when the Duke had to bow to political pressures and to petition the Pope to annul his first nuptials in order to marry into a more powerful family. Having become a pawn in a game too difficult for her to understand, Camilla hoped she would be left alone with her child. Instead, he was taken away soon after his birth while she was purposely kept in the dark about events at Court and then repeatedly asked to remarry or to take religious vows. Camilla tried to resist the pressure for five years in the hope that her situation would improve and a way out of her predicament could be found. Finally, she accepted her unwanted destiny of reclusión and became a Clarissa nun. Camilla wrote her memoir in 1622 with the understanding that her Mother Superior would keep it within the convent's walls to avoid possible retaliation.
