Placed in the geographical centre of the Department, the commune is home to 17,400 inhabitants, making it one of the smaller prefectures of France by its population.

The commune, which is at the heart of the geology, has its specificities related to the ancient town [clarification needed] built upstream of the cluse which the Bléone has worn into the Nappe de Digne to emerge into the tertiary basin of Valensole.

The most eastern suburbs joined a line of limestone hills with flint of the Carixian age, forming russet cliffs oriented to the south-west.

[5] The hot springs were captured, since ancient times, to the point where these carixian limestones are cut by the hack of the southernmost valley, descending from Entrages.

Their healing powers are linked to their ascent along the gypsiferous Triassic levels of the sole thrust of the Nappe de Digne.

In respect of its 'world famous and outstanding accumulation of fossils from a lower Jurassic marine environment', the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) included the 'Ammonite Slab of Digne-les-Bains' in its assemblage of 100 'geological heritage sites' around the world in a listing published in October 2022.

[17] Similarly, several massive landslides have happened in the history of the commune, for example on 24 December 1916, which caused the collapse of part of Courbons, and 2002–2003 at Villard-des-Dourbes.

[39] The arrival of the Angevins at the head of the County of Provence in 1246 accelerated the recovery process of the comital rights usurped during the previous period by lay or ecclesiastical lords.

In 1562, the Huguenots broke into the cathedral, shredded the tables and smashed statues, removed relics and ornaments and burnt them with the choir on the forecourt.

[46] It is also during this period that the inhabitants seized the château of the bishops, on Le Rochas, destroying it to prevent it from falling into the hands of one party or another.

[46] The news of the storming of the Bastille was welcomed, this event announced the end of royal arbitrariness and, perhaps, more profound changes in the organization of the France.

Rumors of troops in arms, devastating everything in their path, propagated at high speed, causing shots of weapons, the organization of militias and anti-aristocratic violence.

He took revenge because he was unable to obtain the post of attorney general trustee,[50] two departmental administrators were removed[51] and a fine of 13,000 livres paid to the Marseille club.

In connection with the section of Marseille, it disseminated the ideas of the Girondists, until their proscription on 31 May 1793 and the crushing of the federalist insurrection in July, which resulted in a sentence to death in Digne.

The prefect Lameth (1802–1805), created a shaded promenade between Pré de Foire and the banks of the Bléone and planted plane trees on the boulevard Gassendi.

[54] In early March 1815 Napoleon Bonaparte passed through Digne-les-Bains on his way from imprisonment on the island of Elba, gathering support as he moved north.

In 1851, the announcement of the coup d'état of 2 December caused uplift in rural areas, and peasants installed a provisional government in Digne.

The hospital took care of the soldiers injured in the fighting, including nearly seventy who died of their injuries, and are buried in the military cemetery of the village square.

[60] Digne was occupied by Italy, then by the German army, following the invasion of the free zone, after the landing of the Allies in North Africa on 8 November 1942.

The release of Digne was part of a movement of circumvention of the Rhône Valley, across the Alps, by the Route Napoléon, entrusted to Taskforce Butler and which aimed to cut the retreat of the German army stationed in Provence.

It forms, with Entrages, Marcoux, La Robine-sur-Galabre, and Mezel, the Communauté de communes des Trois-Vallées [fr] (CC3V).

On 24 March 2015 Germanwings Flight 9525, carrying 150 people (including six crewmembers), had a rapid descent from cruising altitude approximately 45 minutes after takeoff.

[76] Digne is twinned with: In 2006, the commune launched a housing construction project aiming to increase the population beyond 20,000 inhabitants (the lower threshold for obtaining certain public aid).

He later admitted to "behav[ing] in a reprehensible way with a young girl aged 14" while at Marseilles some 35 years previously, as confirmed on 7 November 2022 by Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, the president of the Bishops' Conference of France.

[91] At the end of 2015, the primary sector (agriculture, forestry, fishing) had 27 active institutions within the meaning of INSEE (including non-professional operators) and 144 salaried jobs.

Every spring, each year, the René-Char cultural centre receives cinema personalities and projects art and test films at the Festival les Rencontres cinématographiques de Digne.

Created in 1999 by The Athletic Club of Digne, the Half-marathon of the Ammonites connects the village of Barles with the prefecture at the beginning of September, each year until 2002.

Its rolling course, measured at 21.1 kilometres (13.1 mi) according to the protocols of the French Athletics Federation, goes through the most spectacular sites of the Haute-Provence Geological Reserve [fr], some of which are world-renowned.

[citation needed] This sporting event had its a 5th edition in 2013 on the 100th anniversary of the Barles road and in favour of the National League Against Cancer [fr], in memory of Cyril Gues, the first winner of this competition, who died in 2012.

There are also versions without the golden "L" or lion: "azure to a fleur de lis of gold, accompanied at head by a cross of silver with a letter "D" of the same at the point".