Approximately 570 physiologists serve as permanent staff at the Italian Universities, as full, associate, and assistant professors. About 40% are within Medical Departments, and many more teach and research using mammalian experimental models to better understand human function and regulation. In a recent survey within the Italian Physiological Society 184 professors from 40 Universities declared their main fields of interest. The majority of respondents selected traditional fields of physiology, mainly neuroscience and neurobiology (27%), while only a total of 12% declared areas of comparative, environmental and adaptation physiology. This small community was found to be fragmented into small units, generally in small universities, well recognized abroad but poorly involved in the national physiology community. In many cases, they teach in non-biomedical Degree courses where physical and chemical disciplines take precedence. Nevertheless, animal and environmental physiology represent major study areas and address not simply differences that exist within and between organisms, but also those processes and genes that underlie these physiological differences. They represent an evolutionary approach to physiology, and one that may contribute to a new understanding of human physiology in health and disease. We speak therefore of a new frontier of Italian physiology. Further teaching and related scientific activities deserve attention, and will be appropriately addressed.