Ratonneau is one of the islands of the Frioul archipelago

Frioul archipelago

The Frioul archipelago is a group of 4 islands located off the Mediterranean coast of France, approximately at 4 km from Marseille. The islands of the archipelago cover a total land area of approximately 200 hectares....

 in the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

, off the southern coast of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 near Marseilles. It is relatively long and thin, approximately 2.5 km long but at most 500 m wide and generally much narrower. It was connected to the nearly island of Pomègues, which runs roughly parallel, by a mole

Mole (architecture)

A mole is a massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater, or a causeway between places separated by water. The word comes from Middle French mole and ultimately Latin mōlēs meaning a large mass, especially of rock and has the same root as molecule.Historically, the term "mole"...

 constructed in 1822 to create a port area.

Overview

The Ancient Roman fleet that besieged Marseilles in 49BC was moored by the island. Later, the island was used to quarantine

Quarantine

Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....

 foreign sailors, particularly those with cases of cholera

Cholera

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

 and Leprosy. The neoclassical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 hôpital Caroline was constructed at the eastern end of the island in 1828 to a design by Michel-Robert Penchaud

Michel-Robert Penchaud

Shaan Penchaud was a French architect.The son of Robert-Louis Penchaud, a provincial architect of Poitou and grandson of a mason who died in Paris, in 1756, his forced enrollment in the Armée de l'Ouest during the Revolution interrupted his studies...

, but partly destroyed in bombing raids in the Second World War.

The centre of the island is occupied by a fort, with a smaller fort at its western tip. The smaller island of If lies to the south east.

The island has several beaches. Today, the island is mostly visited by tourists, by ferries that connect the island to the Old Port of Marseilles in the summer season. The island includes some tourist restaurants, some tourist shops, a fire station, and a town hall. Motor vehicles are banned.

External links