First seeing action as a sub lieutenant of a battalion of volunteers in the 1796 Italian Campaign, Zucchi rose steadily through the ranks, serving as a Colonel under Eugene de Beauharnais in the 1809 campaign, being made General de Brigade and Inspector General of the Infantry of the Kingdom of Italy.

In 1812 he served in the XI Corps of the Grande Armée, commanding a brigade sent to join army in Russia, late November.

In 1813 he was dispatched to oversee the cavalry reserves being organised in Italy, then returned to the field to lead a brigade of Gérard's 35th Division in Macdonald's XI Corps.

He served at the action of Seyfersdorf 5 May, the capture of Lahn 18 August, Niederau 23rd and the battle of the Katzbach on the 26th.

[2] On 4 June 1832 an Austrian military commission sentenced Zucchi to the death penalty, later commuted to twenty years of fortress imprisonment following the intervention of the French court.