[The language of disease in the correspondence of Antonio Vallisneri].

It was common practice between the 16th and the 18th c. to submit a clinical case to a physician whose renown and prestige were generally acknowledged even outside academic circles. Patients could normally gain access to Antonio Vallisneri, who was then a famous physician, through their own physician. Vallisneri was regularly engaged in writing consultations and sending them by post, an activity which gave way to a peculiar kind of writing both in style and language level. The patient and his illness are the object of minute descriptions in order to secure an effective therapy. One of the best therapies, nevertheless, seems to be the written communication itself, written by the physician for the patient, which possibly reassured the patient that the best possible therapeutic measures were being taken in order help to retrieve his or her health.