But, the origin of the name "Petite France" does not evoke a patriotic epic, but refers to the fact that during the middle of the 16th century, in the Middle Ages, they increased in the city, which at that time was a free town within the Sacred Germanic Empire, cases of syphilis, known as "the French disease" and to combat the disease the Strasbourg authorities created a hospice in an old building, the hospice des Vérolés. The wharf located next to the hospital took the name of Petite France and over time it ended up being extended and that is how it came to this day.