Melle, Deux-Sèvres

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Saint Pierre, one of the Roman Triad

Saint Savinien, another of the Roman Triad

Melle is a French town and commune of about 4,000 people located between Poitiers and Niort in the Deux-Sèvres département. It is today best known as the home town of Ségolène Royal, the Socialist candidate for the Presidency of the Republic.

[edit] History

The town started out under Charlemagne as a mining center and sported the French mint. This mine can still be visited today. The mine continued to be used off and on before being forgotten altogether in the 1700s, not to be discovered again until the 1900s.

Meanwhile, Melle continued as a town, as evidenced by its slew of old French houses and a triad of Romanesque churches, built in the 11th and 12th centuries.

Today Melle is a vibrant small town community. It is the major hub of business for the nearby towns of Saint Leger, Chef-Boutonne, and Celles-sur-Belles; as evidenced by its large business community and the fact that it has the lycée (high school) for the region. It is known for its goat cheese, chabichou.