Everything about Pite Ti totally explained
Piteşti (/pi'teʃtʲ/) is a city in
Romania, located on the
Argeş River. The capital and largest city of
Argeş County, it's an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Piteşti is situated on the
A1 freeway connecting it directly to the national capital
Bucharest, being an important railway junction, with a
classification yard in nearby
Bălileşti. The city houses the
Arpechim oil refinery, and is a marketing center for the
automotive industry, in particular
Automobile Dacia.
Inhabited since
prehistory but first mentioned in the 14th century, it developed as a trading town in northern
Wallachia, serving as an informal residence for various
Wallachian Princes until the 18th century. From the 1800s and until the
interwar period, it was an important political center for the
National Liberal Party and the main residence of the
Brătianu family of politicians. During the early stages of the
communist regime, it was one of the main sites of political repression, with the
Piteşti prison becoming home to an experiment in
brainwashing techniques.
Geography
The city is part of the
historical region of Wallachia, being situated in its north and the westernmost part of its
Muntenian subregion. It lies on the right bank of the Argeş, where the river meets its tributary,
Râul Doamnei.
Piteşti is situated 280 m above sea level, on terraces formed by the Argeş, and belongs to the southernmost section of the
Getic Plateau (an area of foothills leading up to the
Southern Carpathians). The Plateau is at its narrowest in the Piteşti area, where it only reaches 30 km in width, as opposed to the 70-80 km average. The city has access to a piedmont plain, known as
Câmpia Piteştilor ("Piteşti Plain") and characterized by
water-meadows. To the west, it abuts the
Trivale Forest, which has been partly set up as a leisure
park.
Piteşti is adjacent to two
reservoirs on the Argeş, in its Prundu area and in nearby
Bascov (the Budeasa Dam). It is situated downstream from
Lake Vidraru and upstream from the reservoir in Bălileşti. Coins minted by the
Dacian during the
3rd century BC, copying the design of
Thracian tetradrachmon issued by
Lysimachus, have been discovered here. A small
Roman castrum was built sometime in the
3rd century AD in the vicinity of present-day Piteşti (part of a protection system for
Roman Dacia and
Moesia). During the
Age of Migrations, the Piteşti area was, according to historian
Constantin C. Giurescu, the site of trading between
Vlachs and
Slavs, which, in his opinion, was the origin of
Târgul din Deal ("The Market on the Hill"), a separate locality.
Piteşti itself was first mentioned on
May 20,
1386, when
Wallachian Prince Mircea I granted a
mill in the area to
Cozia Monastery. Piteşti was subsequently one of the temporary residences of Wallachian Princes. By the late 14th century, it became home to a sizable
Armenian community.
At the time, the locality was only extending on the left bank of the Argeş, and gradually expanded over the river, reaching the hill slopes to the west While Piteşti was commonly designated as a high-ranking town, a village of Piteşti was still mentioned as late as 1528, which led some historians to conclude that the village and urban area coexisted within the same boundaries. Around that time, fighting occurred in and around the town as the new prince
Radu Şerban clashed with the Ottomans and their
Crimean Khanate allies. During the 1790s, Piteşti was visited by
Luigi Mayer, a
German pupil of
Giovanni Battista Piranesi, who left etchings of the region (including the very first one of Piteşti);
The town was an important location for events relating to the last stage of the
Wallachian uprising of 1821 and the first stages of the
Greek War of Independence: it was here that, in late spring 1821, the Wallachian rebel leader
Tudor Vladimirescu settled after retreating from
Bucharest, raising suspicion from his
Eterist allies that he was planning to abandon the common cause (he was captured in the nearby locality of
Băileşti and executed soon after, on orders from Eteria leader
Alexander Ypsilantis).
Late 19th century
The city was developed further after the unification of the
Danubian Principalities and the creation of the
Romanian Kingdom. Around that time, and lasting until the
interwar period, the city became a
National Liberal center, largely due to the
Brătianu family of politicians residing in the nearby locality of
Ştefăneşti. Their manor,
Florica, housed most major reunions of the National Liberal Party leaders.
By 1872, a
national railway connection with the capital Bucharest and
Târgovişte was built, at the same time as one linking Bucharest with
Ploieşti through
Chitila. Overseen by
Imperial German financier
Bethel Henry Stroussberg, this was the second project of its kind in Romania (after the Bucharest-
Giurgiu rail link of 1869). The Piteşti Town Hall was completed in 1886, and currently houses an art gallery.
20th century
From late autumn 1916 to 1918, during the
World War I battles on the Romanian front, Piteşti was occupied by the troops of the
Central Powers. The city was originally abandoned by the
Romanian Army and taken by the German commander
August von Mackensen as the front stabilized on the
Olt River, before Mackensen was able to occupy Bucharest and the entire southern Romania.
During
World War II, when the
fascist National Legionary State was proclaimed by the
Iron Guard, a bronze bust of former
Premier Armand Călinescu (whom the Guard had assassinated in September 1939), was chained and dragged through the streets of Piteşti. The city was sporadically bombed by the
Allies: on
July 4,
1944, it was struck by a section of the
U.S. Fifteenth Air Force (
see Bombing of Romania in World War II).
In the 1950s, the city gained an ill notoriety, when the
communist authorities used the local detention facility to subject political detainees to the infamous
Reeducation, in which violence between inmates was encouraged to the point of being mandatory (
see Piteşti prison). The experiment was carried out by the
Securitate and overseen by
Alexandru Nicolschi; its goal was to psychologically destroy the capacity for outside attachment and outside loyalty, thus creating the
brainwashed New Man meant to suit a
Leninist society. It was canceled after five years. At a trial held in 1953-1954, twenty-two inmate-participants were sentenced, with sixteen being condemned to death for their role in the experiment. In 1957, a new trial convicted certain members of the prison staff, who received light sentences; they were later pardoned.
In parallel, the city underwent numerous changes in landscape, including the completion of the
A1 freeway, the first road of its kind, during the 1960s, and the acceleration of
industrialization with a focus on the
chemical and
automotive industries. Around 1950, the Piteşti area accommodated
Greek refugees who supported
ELAS during the
Civil War (part of the buildings raised for this purpose were later used to house resettled peasants). The plant is scheduled to gradually reduce its activity over a period of several years, pending eventual closure. The Theater's Studio 125 was established in May 1975 by director
Liviu Ciulei.
The city houses two universities: the state-run
University of Piteşti and the
private Constantin Brâncoveanu University (founded 1991, with branches in
Brăila and
Râmnicu Vâlcea). There are 17
secondary education institutions, including two main high schools — the
Ion Brătianu High School (founded 1866) and the
Zinca Golescu High School.
Each year during springtime, Piteşti is host to a festival and fair known as
Simfonia lalelelor (the "Tulip Symphony"). Tulips were introduced locally in 1972-1973, when around 3,000 bulbs brought from
Arad and
Oradea were planted in its central area, along with other flowers. Piteşti consequently acquired a reputation as a tulip-growing area, and the flower-themed festival was first organized by the local authorities in 1978. Piteşti hosts two
basketball teams,
BCA Piteşti and
BCMUS Piteşti, as well as a women's
volleyball team, Argeş Volei Piteşti.
The city is home to an
Olympic size swimming pool, the home ground for
CSM Piteşti, and a public outdoor swimming pool in the Tudor Vladimirescu area. Nearby
Bascov also has a public swimming place, on grounds adjacent to the Budeasa Dam. The national
canoe racing also trains at the Budeasa Dam sports base, and the location is also used for recreational fishing. A
tennis challenger tournament (
Turneul challenger feminin Piteşti) takes place each year, on grounds in Bascov.
Natives
Sister cities
Borlänge
Caserta
Kragujevac
Muntinlupa
Springfield, OhioFurther Information
Get more info on 'Pite Ti'.
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