In the first volume of his Almagestum novum (Bologna, 1651), Giovanni Battista Riccioli praised Manzini’s philosophical and scientific knowledge.

[2] He was in contact with many of the leading scientists of the time, including Mario Bettinus (with whom he performed some experiments), Ovidio Montalbani and Bonaventura Cavalieri (who was helped by Manzini to obtain the chair of mathematics at the University of Bologna).

In 1626 he published Tabulae primi mobilis: quibus nova dirigendi ars et praecipue circuli positionis inventio, non minus facilis quam exacta ostenditur.

Manzini was in close personal contact with the two principal makers of telescopes in Italy, Francesco Fontana and Eustachio Divini.

He took part in the cultural life of the city, and became a prominent member of the Accademia degli Apatisti, founded in 1632 by the scholar Agostino Coltellini, a supporter of Galilean philosophy.