OSPEDALETTI. 



391 



The next day I visited Ospedaletti. If you approacli 

 this place from the east you will not see it till }'ou are 

 close upon it, for it lies in the trough of a valley and 

 is concealed b\' a projection of the mountain to the east. 

 This colony is said to be of '\il/ very ancient origin, 

 and its foundation is ,_ , -r;. ';' 



ascribed to lepers, 

 who were left here 

 by a ship of the £_ 

 Knights of Rhodes. 

 Hence the name. Until two de- 

 cades ago Ospedaletti was 

 only a simple fishing 

 Speculators, how- 

 ever, took posses- ;' 

 sion of it with " 

 the object of 

 converting it into 

 Monte Carlo. Hotels 

 were built and a 

 '"Casino", which was 

 to entice "birds of 

 passage" laden with 

 gold, into this new 

 "Roccolo". But 

 the Italian go\ern- 



ment refused ' the license for gambling, and 

 so the fine buildings erected b}' the Credit 

 Foncier Lyonnais are now used as Sanatoria. The 

 place is better sheltered from winds than San Remo, 



