While he lived mainly in Bologna, his family had an estate in Crevalcore that bordered with the Malpighi property in that town.

Sbaraglia argued that animal models or the microanatomic information did little to advance practical medicine, which he stated was more properly derived from classic sources such as Galen and direct clinical experience.

In Bologna, others that supported Sbaraglia included Paolo Mini, Giovanni Battista Trionfetti, and Felice Marsigli.

But Malpighi also had his prominent protectors including Bartolomeo Massari, professor of medicine at the university, and the cardinal Antonio Pignatelli, the future Pope Innocent XII.

In the late 1650s, Malpighi accepted an offer to be a professor of Theoretical Medicine at the University of Pisa.