Sentence:  By the middle of the eighteenth century when it was becoming easier, and safer, to visit the east, they were anxious to visit the Greek and Roman lands of Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa from which they had been deterred by the lure of Italy, fear of the plague and of having to spend quarantine in a noisome Levantine <WSD>lazaretto</WSD>. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A ship or building used for quarantine.