LAZARETTO(Corfu/Greece)

by A. G. Perdikaris (2009)

LOCATION

The island Lazaretto (formerly known as Aghios Dimitrios) is uninhabited and is located opposite the area of Gouvia-Kontokali Corfu. It is located 2 miles from the coast and covers an area of 70.82 acres

Early history

During the Venetian acquisition in the early 16th century, a monastery has built there and later on, a hospital (sanatorium) for lepers.

In 1798, during the French occupation, the island was in possession of the Russian-Turkish fleet and was used as a military hospital. During the British occupation in 1814, the lepers came again. After the Union of the Ionian Islands with Greece (1864) has been used occasionally as leprosarium

The Name

The name seems to come from Venetian word for sanatorium (lazaretto) that existed on the island

Modern History

During World War II, the Axis Occupation of Greece a concentration camp established there, for the prisoners of the Greek National Resistance movement.

After the liberation, until 1962, the island was used as a place of execution of some 200 political prisoners, mostly communists, but some criminal also, sentenced to death. Today the only surviving remains are an old church and the wall of executions, which is propably a wall of the old ruined church.

Lazaretto (Death and Life)

THE END