Annarita Pezzola

Annarita Pezzola was the administrative assistant to Cosimo III, Grand Duke of Italy. She was a thoroughly modern woman, whose body-displaying clothing could cause her to be mistaken for a Muslim, contrasting as it was with the tents that most Christian women wore. This, plus the unlikelihood of a woman having a very high occupational position in the Grand Duke's circle, caused many to believe she had slept her way to the top, a charge she vigorously denied.