Who is Baroness Corradina di Rondo, the Generalessa from The Baron in the Trees and what is their importance?

Cosimo's mother is nicknamed the Generalessa for her love of all things to do with battles and implements of war, grown in her from years spent with her father the General on the battle field in the Wars of Succession. She embroiders in her private quarters pillows featuring the trajectories of cannons and the strategies armies used on the battlefields. Biagio expresses some sadness at her never having divested her knowledge to her sons, so that as boys they could use the flag signals and such. They never even discover her knowledge of these soldier's tricks until she employs them to communicate with Cosimo in the trees. She is the parent who shows the most ready acceptance of Cosimo's lifestyle, likening him to soldiers on sentry duty, and continues to include him in her inner circle of comforters in the last days of her life.