Giuseppe Zambeccari (19 March 1655 – 13 December 1728) was an Italian physician who is considered one of the pioneers of experimental anatomy and physiology, conducting experiments on live animals, such as dogs and chicken, a practice then not considered unacceptable.
[1] Zambeccari was born in Castelfranco di Sotto in a family from Pontremoli that included clergymen, physicians and other professions apart from a few noble relatives in Bologna.
According to the custom of the time, Zambeccari lodged in the house of his professor and there in 1680 conducted his most important experiments in physiology, which consisted in removing various internal organs from live animals (mainly dogs) in order to acquire a better understanding of what functions they performed in relation to the whole organism.
[2][3] Zambeccari married Ann Maria Palmieri of Pisa in 1690 and they had a son and three daughters (two becoming nuns).
Zambeccari was very religious and was involved in the examination of a Maria Caterina Brondi, attesting the presence of stigmata and supporting her sainthood.