Villerest (French pronunciation: [vilʁɛ]; Arpitan: Vilarês) is a commune in the Loire department in central France. It is a Medieval-era commune located just south of the city of Roanne. The village is bordered by the river Loire.

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Villerest
Commune
Coat of arms
Location of Villerest
Villerest Show map of France Villerest Show map of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Coordinates: 45°59′39″N 4°02′14″E
Country	France
Region	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Department	Loire
Arrondissement	Roanne
Canton	Roanne-2
Intercommunality	Roannais Agglomération
Government
• Mayor (2020–2026)	Philippe Perron[1]
Area 1	14.82 km2 (5.72 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[2]	5,170
• Density	350/km2 (900/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+01:00 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+02:00 (CEST)
INSEE/Postal code	42332 /42300
Elevation	261–426 m (856–1,398 ft) (avg. 360 m or 1,180 ft)
1 French Land Register data, which excludes lakes, ponds, glaciers > 1 km2 (0.386 sq mi or 247 acres) and river estuaries.

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• Le Barrage de Villerest, a hydroelectric dam that also prevents flooding along the Loire. This dam also creates a reservoir, the Lac de Villerest.
• The village itself contains many buildings from the Middle Ages.^[5] These include numerous houses, and the Eglise de Saint-Priest. Maybe most famous from this time period are the ramparts that are still mostly intact today.

Villerest is twinned with:

• Piatra Neamţ, Romania^[6] and Storrington, West Sussex, England.^[7]

• Communes of the Loire department