Roanne is a French commune located in the Loire department , in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It is also the third commune of the department in number of inhabitants after Saint-Étienne and Saint-Chamond .

It is with Montbrison , one of the two sub-prefectures of the Loire department.

Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Loire
Canton	Roanne-1 and 2
Government
Mayor (2020–2026)	Yves Nicolin
Area1	16.12 km2 (6.22 sq mi)
Population (2017-01-01)	34,366
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)

Geographic location 

In the center of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region , the second French region, Roanne is located about an hour from Digoin , Lyon and Saint-Étienne and about an hour and a half from Clermont-Ferrand. It is next to Forez , Rhône , Saône-et-Loire , Allier and Puy-de-Dôme .

Economy 

Trade 

The traders of the town of Roanne are represented by the association “Vitrines de Roanne” which has a total of 200 members. 

There are four main commercial centers:

• City center with Charles de Gaulle, Maréchal Foch, Jean Jaurès, Alsace Lorraine and Brison streets; there are many national brands there, particularly in the field of personal equipment;
• Espace Saint-Louis , the most recent, opened in 1998 ¹⁰² , located in the city center ( Carrefour Market supermarket and shopping mall );
• The La Demi-Lieue shopping area located in the neighboring town of Mably on the edge of the N7 ( Carrefour hypermarket and shopping mall);
• Les Portes de Riorges , located in the neighboring town of Riorges (E.Leclerc hypermarket and shopping mall).

Industry 

Today 

• Nexter Systems: 765 people manufacture the VBCI (Armored Infantry Fighting Vehicle).
• Michelin.
• Textiles and clothing: a specificity of the Roannais with 1,000 jobs today.
• ELOCA (Logistics Establishment of the Armed Forces Commissariat): 153 civilians under the supervision of 30 soldiers, responsible for the heavy maintenance of the French army’s war material and its supply of spare parts.
• Calorifloat (Caloriver group): specialist in the manufacture of insulating glazing. 
• Gimaex: the Franco – German company manufactures road rescue and fire vehicles. 
• Délipapier ( Sofidel group ): manufacturing plant for paper articles for sanitary or domestic use.
• Call centers.
• Sopra Steria  : with a 4,500  m ^{2 center} , 300 employees .
• Numériparc (formerly Télépôle).
• Technopôle Diderot.

Transport

Urban transport

The city of Roanne and the Roanne agglomeration community Agglomeration with the STAR network (Société des Transports de l’Agglomération Roannaise) has a very dense public transport service, managed by Transdev Roanne, a subsidiary of Transdev and its director Richard Gauthier. The single ticket is sold for € 1.35  , the monthly coupon for € 25  and the annual “frequency” card for € 250. Since 2016, it is possible to buy the WhereRA card! and which can be charged according to its uses such as taking the train on the SNCF network .

A hub (accessible to people with reduced mobility ) on the side of the Mulsant district, backing onto the station, brings together all urban and interurban transport as well as the bus providing service to the Creusot TGV station in 1 hour 30 minutes . The bus station has 9 regular lines (in the municipalities of Balbigny, Neulise , Saint-Martin-d’Estréaux , Ambierle , Renaison , La Gresle , Perreux, Saint-Alban-les-Eaux , Saint-Just-en-Chevalet , Saint-Germain-Laval , Boën ,Charlieu , Vougy, Chauffailles , Briennon ).

Rail transport 

Main destinations by train from Roanne station  :

• Lyon-Part-Dieu ( 1  h  5 ), Lyon-Perrache ( 1  h  10 ) Clermont-Ferrand ( 1  h  15 ), Saint-Étienne-Châteaucreux , ( 1  h  10 ), Tarare ( 35  min );
• Paris-Gare-de-Lyon via:
  • Le Creusot ( 3  hrs  15 mins );
  • Moulins-sur-Allier ( 3  h  45 );
  • Lyon-Part-Dieu ( 3  h  30 );
  • Vichy  ( 4  h  10 ).

Air transport 

• Lyon-Saint-Exupéry Airport
• Saint-Étienne-Loire Airport
• Clermont-Ferrand Auvergne Airport
• Roanne airport

River transport 

In 2002, more than 300 pleasure boats from all over Europe crossed the lock and called in the city. The port accommodates a hundred boats between 6 and 38  m ⁴ .

Health 

The Roanne hospital center.

• Clinique du Renaison;
• SAMU;
• Heliport;
• Roanne nursing training institute : preparing for the national nursing diploma.
• Roanne hospital center: It brings together all clinical specialties (medicine, oncology, surgery, obstetric gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry, follow-up and rehabilitation care, long stay, etc.); 
• In 2009, the agglomeration had 13 retirement homes with 1,138 beds.

Local Culture and Heritage 

Culture 

Media library 

It opened in 1997. Imagined by the architect Jean-Louis Godivier, it offers a place for reading, discovery and exchange. It provides the public with more than 120,000 printed, audio-visual and multimedia documents to borrow and consult, as well as Internet access. 

Cinemas 

The history of cinema in Roanne dates back to 1908, with the opening of the first room, the Eden , on the town hall square. Other cinemas will emerge such as the Z , now replaced by the nightclub Le Thé Dansant , L’Empire , rue Charles de Gaulle, no longer available, the Médian (formerly the Majestic , rue Anatole France) closed in 2007, and the Marivaux now L’Espace Renoir .

Built in 2007, Le Grand Palais in the renovated district of the station offers 9 large rooms (1,900 seats). Designed on the model of multiplexes (giant screens, numerous sessions all day long, high image and sound quality), all its rooms are accessible to disabled people. The latter, in addition to a cinema, was a very popular dance hall and a major music hall.

Espace Renoir is classified Art and Essay . A collective of associations united under the name of Ciné rivage. In 2016, the cinema recorded more than 60,000 admissions.

Theater

The city has a Italian theater . By decision of the mayor Alexandre Raffin, it was built in 1884 by the architect Barberot. Restored and modernized, it offers spectators an elegant setting and artists a tool adapted to today’s needs. With a capacity of nearly 560 places, it offers a new cultural program each season.

The Scarab 

Le Scarabée is a building designed in 2008 by architect Alain Sarfati . It hosts a large number of events in the neighboring town of Riorges: trade fairs, shows, concerts, company conventions, seminars, congresses, general meetings.

Cultural events and festivities 

The Roanne-Thiers walk has taken place every year on the first Saturday in December, since 1925, with 4 routes offered: Thiers-Roanne (57  km ), Thiers-Moulins Cherier (40  km ), Thiers-Saint-Just-en-Chevalet ( 32  km ) and Moulins Cherier -Roanne (16  km ).

Places and monuments 

• Roanne Castle .
• Half-timbered house .
• Roanne town hall.
• Hotel of the sub-prefecture of Roanne.
• Pisserot Bridge: above the side canal from Roanne to Digoin by the engineer Léonce-Abel Mazoyer.
• Bridge over the Loire.
• Travelers’ hostel: on the Quai de l’Isle, where passers-by lived before embarking on the Loire until the Revolution.
• Church of Our Lady of Victories (or Minimes Church). 
• Sainte-Anne Church, Place Berthelot (patron saint of weavers).
• Saint-Étienne church, rue Charles De Gaulle, in golden and pink stones, in the shape of a Latin cross. The oldest parish of Roanne near the castle. 
• Church St. Louis, rue du Moulin Populle (1881).
• Chapelle Saint-Michel, rue du Maréchal Foch.
• Chapelle Saint-Nicolas du Port, Quai du Commandant Lherminier, built by the sailors in 1630 to thank heaven for warding off the plague of 1628.
• Joseph-Déchelette Museum of Fine Arts and Archeology, partially listed as historical monuments.
• Maison des Métiers d’Art de Roanne: This medieval house located in the historic center regularly hosts various temporary exhibitions of craftsmen from the Roanne region or from outside regions.

Natural heritage 

• Lake Villerest: Lake Villerest is the largest lake in the Loire since it stretches over 36  km and has an area of 770  ha .
• Place des Promenades Populle, named after François Populle, mayor from 1808 to 1815. The bandstand is still there. The garden has a children’s play park.
• Square Baron du Marais, not far from the station.
• Sports park, in the district of Mâtel.
• Pedestrian “green corridor” along the Renaison from almost its confluence with the Loire to Riorges (Parc Beaulieu and Sentier des Écureuils) and beyond.
• The landscaped banks and the pedestrian and cycling route of the canal (towards Briennon).

Gastronomy 

Roanne is the first ambassador of the Côte-Roannaise vineyard . These red (and rosé ) wines from the surrounding slopes of the Côte-Roannaise are chiseled over 200  ha , spread over 14 municipalities and classified AOC with an annual production of 10,000  hectoliters. The Ecole des Trois Ponts René Dorel located in the Villa Beaulieu on the nearby town of Riorges, annually hosts 200 to 300  foreigners who wish to hone their culinary skills and practice the language and French culture.

Auguste Pralus invented Praluline in 1955 . A culinary specialty from Roanne, this praline brioche is made from almonds and hazelnuts. The Roanne boutique has been in the pedestrian streets for 70 years .

Jean-Baptiste Troisgros and his wife Marie took over the Hôtel-restaurant des Platanes , located in front of the station, which they renamed Hôtel Moderne . The square in the shape of a roundabout in front of the old restaurant bears the name of Jean Troisgros, who died in 1983. It is adorned with a work by the sculptor Arman which represents a stack of forks.

Sports 

The city has nearly 15,000 licensees, for 165 clubs and 52 disciplines .

• Basketball 
• Football 
• Cycling: Cycling in Roanne is represented by the Vélo Club Roannais (VRC) and the Club Routier des 4 Chemins de Roanne (CR4C) created in March 1925 at the crossroads of 4 streets.
• Rugby: The rugby union team was created around 1899 at the boys’ high school (which later became the Jean-Puy high school). But it was in 1902 that a rugby club was born in this city: the Stade Roannais .
• Canoeing: The Mâtel-Sport-Canoë-Kayak is located in the René Captier nautical base below the Loire levee, near the workers’ gardens of the Faubourg Clermont. The canoe-kayak section of Roanne is one of the most important in-line running clubs in the Rhône-Alpes region. This discipline is practiced in speed over 200, 500 or 1000 meters, in the background over 5 kilometers.
• Twirling stick 
• Rowing
• Ice hockey
• Golf 
• Table tennis 
• Badminton 
• Athletics 

Infrastructures 

Roanne has 5 stadiums (the most important of which: the Henri Malleval stadium), 8 gymnasiums, 1 skatepark, 3 multisports grounds, an ice rink, a karting motor circuit, an indoor pétanquodrome, a private bowling alley, a modern nautical center: the Nauticum , discoverable in summer.