The locality of Gorbio in the Alpes-Maritimes department is renowned for the mildness of its micro-climate. Such specificity had it chosen at the end of the 19th century by two doctors, the Austrian Sigismond Appenzeller and the French Charles Malibran, to host a sanatorium completed in 1901. The establishment operated until 1914, first as the Gorbio climatic station intended for patients chronically suffering from nervous breakdowns. It was later renamed the Dietetic medical institute of Gorbio and offered both climatic and dietetic treatments. The establishment was transformed into a military sanatorium during the First World War and later a tuberculosis sanatorium in the 1920s.