Prevailing wisdom at this time is that maggots form naturally from rotting meat.

Italian physician Francesco Redi, who sets out to disprove this, is known for his series of experiments, published in 1668 as Esperienze Intorno alla Generazione degl'Insetti (Experiments on the Generation of Insects) which is regarded as one of the first steps in refuting "spontaneous generation"—a theory also known as Aristotelian abiogenesis.

Redi is also a poet, his best known work being the dithyrambic Bacchus in Tuscany.