At the age of eighteen Zurla entered the Camaldolese Monastery of St. Michael, situated on the island of Murano in the Venetian Lagoon.

As librarian, his attention was attracted by the map of the world executed between 1457 and 1459 in that same monastery by the famous Camaldolese cartographer Fra Mauro.

This led to further studies on early travelers, of which the most important result was the work, "Di Marco Polo e degli altri viaggiatori veneziano" (2 volumes, Venice, 1818–19).

From that year he taught theology at the Patriarchal Seminary of Venice till 1821, when he moved to Rome and resumed the white habit of St. Romuald at the Monastery of St. Gregory the Great.

Pope Pius VII named Zurla as a consultor to various congregations and Prefect of Studies at the Pontifical Urban College.