Antonio Cocchi, Del vitto pitagorico per uso della medicina (About the Pythagorean Diet in medicine)

Vicenza : nella Stamperia Turra, 1743 BUC, Misc. D 281, 1

Antonio Cocchi, Du regime de vivre pythagoricien à l'usage de la Medecine

Geneve : chez les frères Cramer & Cl. Philibert, 1750 BUC, Misc. D 312, 2

Antonio Pujati, Riflessioni sul vitto pitagorico (Considerations on the Pythagorean Diet)

Feltre : per Odoardo Foglietta, 1751 Sala del Dottorato, III-6-30

Antonio Cocchi (1695-1758), a Tuscan naturalist and medical practitioner, gained some fame during his times thanks to his work on the Pythagorean Diet. Numerous editions were published, the book earned a good amount of popularity and it was also translated into French. Cocchi was an advocate for the health benefits of a vegetarian diet, in which vegetables were to be consumed preferably fresh and raw and accompanied by either milk, honey or wine, although in moderation.

Cocchi’s argumentations originated from a iatromechanical vision (a school of thought that maintained that physiology and pathology could be explained in terms of the physics of the fluids circulating within the human body, that had to be brought into balance in order to maintain good health).

Vegetarianism, therefore, was not motivated by an ethical choice regarding the possible presence of a soul in the animals that were raised as food, but it was exclusively aimed towards maintaining the health of the human body.

Cocchi’s opinions were harshly criticized by Antonio Pujati (1701-1760), a medical practitioner from Padua, who claimed that Cocchi’s interpretation of the Pythagorean Diet was incorrect and condemned his opinions about the benefits of a vegetarian regimen while supporting a more varied and nourishing diet.