In terms of the required research methodology, the disease known as Saint Anthony's Fire presents an exemplary case. The importance of Alessandra Foscati's study lies precisely in her duly adopted approach.

This is a textbook case as it forces the historian of medicine and society tout court to constantly rethink the lexicographic and historiographical framework. Numerous challenges must be faced when undertaking a meticulous and thorough historical reconstruction, which must incorporate factors such as medical lexicography, the geography of medieval and early modern Europe and historiography. These three disciplines frequently come into play in the complex history of Saint Anthony's Fire both in the Middle Ages and the early modern period and beyond.

Faced with such intricate circumstances, the historian has to proceed with extreme caution. By implementing a strategy in some way comparable to detective work, the methods adopted must consistently manage to separate myths, legends and historiographical prejudices and beliefs from the clear, incontrovertible and dependable elements that emerge from the exhaustive examination of sources.

In this way, Alessandra Foscati has managed to highlight that the term Saint Anthony's Fire is never used in reference to an epidemic in sources from the Middle Ages and the early modern period. In fact, it is only employed in medical, hagiographical, legal or literary texts to allude to individual cases of gangrene of varying aetiology, perhaps deriving from frostbite or more frequently an ‘infection’ following a wound. These findings are truly important, firstly because they are the result of a comprehensive and astute rereading of the available sources and secondly as they prompt a rethink of the entire medical and social history of Saint Anthony's Fire from the Middle Ages onwards, always taking account of the aforementioned interweaving of lexicography, geography and historiography.

In terms of lexicography, Alessandra Foscati carefully analyses the semantic and semiological evolution of the term Holy Fire (ignis sacer), for which the reader will be grateful. In addition to examining both medical and non-medical sources, the author assesses the influence of ancient sources on medieval and early modern authors.