Melle, Deux-Sèvres

Melle
Saint-Hilaire Church
Location of Melle
Melle
Melle
Coordinates: 46°13′19″N 00°08′42″W / 46.22194°N 0.14500°W / 46.22194; -0.14500
CountryFrance
RegionNouvelle-Aquitaine
DepartmentDeux-Sèvres
ArrondissementNiort
CantonMelle
IntercommunalityMellois-en-Poitou
Government
  Mayor (20202026) Sylvain Griffault
Area
1
65.34 km2 (25.23 sq mi)
Population
 (2022)
5,790
  Density89/km2 (230/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+01:00 (CET)
  Summer (DST)UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code
79174 /79500
Elevation57–183 m (187–600 ft)
(avg. 119 m or 390 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

Melle (French pronunciation: [mɛl]) is a commune in the Deux-Sèvres department in western France. On 1 January 2019, the former communes Mazières-sur-Béronne, Paizay-le-Tort, Saint-Léger-de-la-Martinière and Saint-Martin-lès-Melle were merged into Melle.

It is today best known as the home town of Ségolène Royal, the 2007 Socialist candidate for the election of the Presidency of the Republic. The director Laurent Cantet was born here as well as the archaeologist Gaston Deschamps (1861–1931).