Inn of the Tongue of Provence

According to the blazons and the inscription in Latin, above the entrance to the premises, this Inn dates from 1518. The blazons are actually those of the Order, of France, of the House of Grand Master Fabrizio del Carretto (1513-1521) as well as the blazon of Francis Flota, Prior of Toulouse who was, according to the inscription in Latin, the commissioner of the construction of this Inn. “Reverendus Dominus Frater Franciscus Flota, prior Tholose construxit Anno 1518” (Reverend Father Francis Flota, prior of Toulouse, commissioned (this building) in the year 1518).
The Inn is situated on the Street of the Knights, across from the Inn of the Tongue of Spain. Historic references to the premises do mention the crumbling of the premises previously used by the Provençal Knights as the result of the 1481 devastating earthquake that shook Rhodes only a year after the first Ottoman siege. The Inn was to suffer serious damages once again, possibly during the second Ottoman siege (1522). Subsequent to the fall of Rhodes, the Ottomans had the premises rearranged and turned into a Turkish Bath.
As of the restoration works undertaken by the Italians, in the years of the Italian rule (1912-1943), the Turkish bath installations in the building’s interior were razed and the premises revamped in order to accommodate high-ranking officials of the Italian Administration, with only but a few elements of the complex’s original features left to tell the story. This two-storey construction is currently housing the activities of the Lyceum Club of Greek Women (Lykeion Ellinidon) as well as dwellings for a number of families.