Marianna Fontanella was born in Turin in 1661 as the ninth of eleven children to the nobleman Giovanni Fontanella - the count of Santena - and Maria Tana [REF].
In 1673 she became a student of the Cistercians in Saluzzo but the death of her father in 1675 prompted her to cut her education short so that she could return home to Turin where she was until 1677 supporting her mother and siblings [REF].