Piteşti

The city lies on the right bank of the Argeş, where the river meets its tributary, Râul Doamnei, and is an important railway junction, with a classification yard in nearby Bălileşti. It is situated 280m above sea level.

The city is surrounded by hills, being the center of an area rich in wineries and plum orchards. The latter give one of the finest Romanian ţuicas: ţuica de Piteşti. The Ştefăneşti winery, situated on the opposite bank of the Argeş River, is one of the best known in Romania.

[edit] History

The earliest traces of human settlements in this area relate to the Paleolithic. Piteşti itself was first mentioned on May 20, 1386.

Piteşti was one of the temporary residences of Wallachian Princes. Due to its positioning on the junction of major European routes (and its proximity to the Saxon markets in Sibiu, Transylvania), the city had originally developed as an important commercial center.

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 purpose of the experiment was to psychologically destroy the capacity for outside attachment and outside loyalty, thus creating the brainwashed New Man meant to suit a Leninist society. The experiment was cancelled after five years. Twenty-two inmate/participants were condemned with sixteen being condemned to death for the experiments in a 1953-54 trial. A new trial in 1957 convicted certain members of the prison staff, who received light sentences. They were later pardoned.