Sétif (Arabic: سطيف‎, formerly Latin: Sitifis Colonia or Colonia Sitifis) is a town in northeastern Algeria. It is the capital of Sétif Province and it has a population of 288,461 inhabitants as of the 2008 census. Setif is located to the east of Algiers and is the second most important Wilaya after the country's capital. It is 1,096 m (3,596 ft) above sea level, making it the second highest capital of a Wilaya in Algeria. The streets are tree-lined with a fountain and theater, giving the town a French feel.

Sétif is one of the coldest regions in Algeria. Sétif is connected by rail as well as the main national highway. It is a university town located approximately 190 miles east of Algiers on the highway to Constantine.

Sétif lay in the region of the Numidian kingdom of Massaesyles. It was near Sétif that Jugurtha campaigned and lost against Marius in 105 BC. Overcome by Marius, he was taken to Rome where was executed in the prison of Tullianum. No remains of this period have been found.

Sitifis was founded by the Romans, during the reign of Nerva, as a colony for veterans. Although no buildings of this period are known, a cemetery excavated in the 1960's seems to have contained tombs from the early colony. The Romans built a circus at Sitifis, which aerial photographs show survived substantially intact until the 20th century; today only a small part of the curved end continues visible; the remainder has been destroyed or built over. As the town grew, around 297 AD, the province of Mauretania Sitifensis was established, with Sitifis as its capital. In the newly prosperous town a bath building was built, decorated with fine mosaics: its restoration in the fifth century had a cold room (frigidarium) paved with a large mosaic showing the birth of Venus.. On the northwest edge of the town two great Christian basilicas were built at the end of the fourth century, decorated, again, with splendid mosaics..