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Ottavia Negri Velo was born on 24 February 1766. Her parents were Marco Egidio Negri and Laura Montanari, both from two of the richest and noblest families of Vicenza. In order to educate their first child, they enrolled her in "S. Bartolomeo" convent-college in Verona.
Ottavia described her school life in many regular letters addressed to her mother. In the convent, the young ladies were mainly educated to be submissive to other people's will, firstly their parents' and the nuns' will, and then, after marriage, their husbands' will. If her brother's life had not been in danger due to a serious illness, Ottavia would have been forced to become a nun in order to leave the whole family patrimony to him. After Marzio's illness, the Negri family tried to find a rich and noble husband for Ottavia. In a letter dated 1779, Ottavia's aunt Costante asked about the agreement between Ottavia's parents and the earl Maffei who wanted his son to marry Ottavia. Ottavia left the convent in 1781: on 6 June she sent the last letter toher mother.

After spending a few years with her family, she married, probably in 1790, Girolamo Giuseppe Velo, who has been described as a noble and gentle young man. Their marriage was a happy one, and they had two children: Isabella and Girolamo Egidio, who were both educated in Parma. Isabella studied at the "Orsoline" college, Girolamo at the "Nobili" college, and later he moved to "S. Caterina" in Venice.

After 1796, Ottavia often went to Parma to visit her children and to serve as intermediary between them and their father, who was a nervous and cold person. In this way, she could gather some information about the socio-political situation in that area, which she would use when writing her Giornale: a journal about the main political and social events happening in Veneto, in particular in Vicenza, starting from 1797. Writing chronicles was a popular pastime among the nobility in the XVIII century. What is peculiar about the Giornale is the fact that it was created by a woman. Ottavia, who was a well-educated and intelligent woman, understood the importance and the uniqueness of the events that were happening in those years, and she recorded them in her Giornale in order for them to be remembered.

She started writing the Giornale in the spring of 1797, when Napoleon Bonaparte, leading the French army, had reached the Vicenza territory. The Giornale covers all the main events happened in Vicenza between 1797 and 1814, and it highlights their impact on the daily life of a population who was subjected to foreign rulers, French and Austrian, without knowing what its destiny would be. The only painfulcertainty was that things would have never been the same again. As well as political chronicle, Ottavia's writings include the description of meteorologic disasters or many women falling in love with French officers, who seduced and abandoned them. She also wrote about civil and religious ceremonies, tragic or comic plays in the town theatres or parties in the local villas. Ottavia died in April 1814, and her journal ends a few weeks before her death.

With the Giornale, Ottavia does not intend to "make history", rather she wishes to be a witness of history. The Giornale is not a historiographic work, it is a chronicle which records the main events of that period in an accurate report. Beside the historical relevance of the work, it is necessary to emphasise the human experience that is conveyed through Ottavia Negri Velo's Giornale. She depicts daily life, and the feelings of the people who were forced to carry the burden of an unhappy existence due to the lack of freedom, the uncertainty of the future, and the frequent unjust happenings. These are the social scenes that Ottavia illustrates in her detailed chronicle.