In his medical research he dealt with the laws of nutrition, functions of the nervous system, cerebral localization, gustatory innervation, the relationship between touch and pain, and the causes of dizziness, and pellagra.

[1] After elementary school, he attended the "Angelo Mai" college in Clusone in Val Seriana, where he obtained a solid foundation of Latin and classical culture.

Lussana replied that he had read Le mie prigioni (My Prison) by Silvio Pellico, at which the rector forgave the precocious scholar.

[1] After graduating in 1844, Lussana worked as a doctor in several parts of Bergamo, first in San Pellegrino Terme, then Zogno, Mologno in Casazza and finally in Gandino.

[1] Lussana became involved in physiology at a time when the study of this discipline was declining in Italy, and in an isolated area like Gandino, where as a pupil of Bartolomeo Panizza he did not have a school or a laboratory.

[citation needed] In the essay "Study program on the physiology of the nervous system" (1851), Lussana anticipates the more precise demonstration of Paul Broca on the location of the language centers of the brain.

Lussana presents the case of a patient with loss of articulate speech as a result of an injury to the skull, and recovery of the same after the removal of bone fragments from that brain region.

In a paper published in Milan in 1856[d] Lussana and Carlo Frua stated clearly (and accurately), "It is our hypothesis that pellagra originates and prolifierates whenever the diet lacks protein (nitrogenous substance).

[14] Lussana found a direct relationship between the disease and a diet of corn deficient in albumin and nitrogen, such as that which grew in Bergamo.

[citation needed] In 1862 Lussana published a polemical article in the Italian Gazette addressed to Professor Paolo Mantegazza.

[citation needed] In his booklet "Coffee" (1872) Lussana traces the history of this drink, analyzing the emergence and spread of places of production and statistical data on the main producing countries (Brazil, Puerto Rico, West Indies).

He also includes a long list of citations and judgments about good and bad coffee, reporting objectively both negative and positive opinions.

[e] In 1874 Lussana and Pietro Albertoni published a lengthy article in Lo Sperimentale about the effects of alcohol and related substances on various animals, detailing extensive experiments they had conducted in Padua.

In a letter to Count Alessio Suardo in 1881 he underlined the necessity of sodium chloride in the tissues and blood, the need for its adequate presence in common food and its physiological and therapeutic uses, concluding in favor of a gradual elimination of the tax on salt.

[3]In 1878 Lussana published A physiological lesson from Dante (1878[f]), the text of a lecture he had given at the Royal Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts of Padua on 20 May 1877.

Lussana defined Dante as the "great physiologist" based on Purgatory XXV, where the poet explains the Aristotelico-Thomistic views on generation.

Adalbert of Ivrea is a historical novel in which Lussana takes the opportunity of a psychological study of an unrestrained and unconventional amorous passion.

Finally there is Romanze, 12 short verses in which Lussana describes war and love, the sacred drama of homeland and history, family, betrayal and discord among Italians.