DIGNE, the chief town of the department of the Basses Alpes, in S.E. France, 14 m. by a branch line from the main railway line between Grenoble and Avignon. Pop. (1931) town, 4,65o; commune, 7,051. The Dinia of the Romans, it was the capital of the Bodiontii. From the early 6th century at least it has been an episcopal see, which till 1790 was in the ecclesiastical province of Embrun, but since 1802 in that of Aix en Provence. It suffered much during the religious wars of the 16th and 17th centuries.
The Ville Haute is built on a mountain spur on the left bank of the lileone river, and above its narrow, winding streets towers the present cathedral church (late r5th cent.), largely reconstructed in modern times, and the former bishop's palace (now the prison). The fine Boulevard Gassendi separates the Ville Haute from the Ville Basse, which is of modern date. The old cathedral (Notre Dame du Bourg) (i3th cent.) is now disused except for funerals. The neighbourhood of Digne is rich in orchards, which have long made the town famous in France for its preserved fruits and confections, honey and yellow wax.