When in 1576 an epidemic of bubonic plague broke out in Milan, Settala played a leading part in fighting the disease and in aiding its victims.

[5] He attained to such renown that Philip III of Spain offered him a post as historiographer, and he was tendered professorships at Ingolstadt, Pisa, Bologna, and Padua, all of which honors he refused.

[6] Settala was honored by Alessandro Manzoni in chapter thirty-one of I promessi sposi (The Betrothed, 1827), as “one of the most active and intrepid doctors” during the terrible days of the Great Plague of Milan.

[9] It encompassed the full range of the fine arts and numismatics, a small collection of medicinal plants and related materials, and a comprehensive library of rare books and manuscripts.

[10] A prolific writer, Settala's chief works are Animadversionum et cautionum medicarum libri IX (1614), the result of 40 years of practice, which went through several editions, and De peste et pestiferis adfectibus (1622).