Surrounded by wooded hills Sigmaringen lies in the Danube valley, south of the Swabian Alps and around 40 km north of Lake Constance.

The surrounding towns are Winterlingen (in the district of Zollernalb) and Veringenstadt in the north, Bingen, Sigmaringendorf, and Scheer in the east, Mengen, Krauchenwies, Inzigkofen, and Meßkirch in the south, and Leibertingen, Beuron, and Stetten am kalten Markt in the west.

The first written reference[6] dates from 1077, when King Rudolf of Rheinfelden tried in vain to conquer Sigmaringen Castle.

On 7 September 1944, following the Allied invasion of France, Philippe Pétain and members of the Vichy government cabinet were relocated to Germany, a move which Petain fiercely fought against.

One of his most notorious members was Joseph Darnand, hero of First World War and who, because of his deep admiration for Petain (for him, he was the "Victor of Verdun"), he followed to the bitter end, his execution by fire squad.

French writers Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Lucien Rebatet and Roland Gaucher, fearing for their lives because of their political and antisemitic writings, fled along with the Vichy government to Sigmaringen.

Pétain returned to France, where he stood trial for treason and was condemned to death, though the sentence was commuted by Charles de Gaulle.