Around 1560 he was able to join a group of artists who worked for pope Pius IV at the Vatican where he made decorations for the Casino in the garden and the cycle with the History of Moses at the Belvedere which were commenced in 1660.

He made decorations for the Palazzo Grimani di Santa Maria Formosa in Venice and painted frescoes and the altarpiece of the patriarch's chapel in San Francesco della Vigna.

He collaborated with Palladio on the design of sets for the theater company Compagnia della Calza degli Accesi and in March 1565 they visited together Cividale del Friuli.

He used his period in Venice to copy works of other masters of the 15th and 16th centuries, including some pages of the precious Grimani Breviary, a manuscript illumination produced by Flemish artists between 1515 and 1520.

Giorgio Vasari, who was in charge of the organisation of the artistic and decorative preparations for the festive occasion, entrusted him with the task of painting in grisaille stories.

These were to be used to decorate a fake arch and the great drop-scene that closed off one of the sides of the Sala dei Cinquecento in the Palazzo Vecchio, where the wedding was to take place.

[3] After returning to Rome in 1566, he found artistic success with his Annunciation (lost) in the church of the Jesuits in Piazza del Collegio Romano and with frescoes in Villa d'Este at Tivoli.

[3] In the summer of 1569, a conflict over payments arose between Zuccaro and Cardinal Farnese as a result of which Federico was sent away from Caprarola where he was replaced by Jacopo Bertoia of Parma.

In his painting, Zuccaro depicts King Midas with donkey ears while the painter hero is led away under the protection of the Roman god Mercury.

[6] Upon learning that the Grand Duke Francesco I de' Medici wished to commission him with the completion of the Last Judgement in the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, left unfinished by Giorgio Vasari upon his death in 1574, he immediately decided to return to Italy.

[1] In the execution of the Last Judgement in Florence he only relied in Vasari's general proportional scheme while creating his own original design by changing the manner of representation, technique and style.

[10] He created around in 1595 a series of 20 drawings, which illustrate the early life of his older brother Taddeo, starting with the hardships and disappointments during the period of his training in Rome until his first artistic successes at the age of 18.

In addition to 16 scenes depicting Taddeo's life, the series includes four drawings of allegorical Virtues flanking the Zuccaro emblem.

[6] In his book L'idea de' Pittori, Scultori, ed Architetti (1607) he sets out a complex theoretical exposition on the idea of design.