Coordinates	44°25′57″N26°6′14″N
Coordinates display	inline,title
Coordinates region	RO
Subdivision type	Country
Subdivision name
Timezone	EET
Utc offset	+2
Timezone dst	EEST
Utc offset dst	+3
Map caption	Location of Pitești
Official name	Pitești
Pushpin map	Romania
Image shield	Actual Pitesti CoA.png
Subdivision type1	County
Subdivision name1	Argeș County
Subdivision type2	Status
Subdivision name2
Settlement type	County capital
Leader title	Mayor
Leader name	Tudor Pendiuc
Leader party	Social Democratic Party
Area total km2	40.7
Population as of	2002
Population total	168458
Population blank1	171498
Population blank1 title	July 1, 2004
Population density km2	4136
Website	http://www.primariapitesti.ro/ }}

Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the Argeș River. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești 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 Bălilești. The city houses the Arpechim oil refinery, and is a marketing center for the automotive industry, in particular Automobile Dacia.

Inhabited since prehistoric times 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 19th century 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 Pitești 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 Argeș, where the river meets its tributary, Râul Doamnei.

Pitești is situated above sea level, on terraces formed by the Argeș, 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 Pitești 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 Piteștilor'' ("Pitești Plain") and characterized by water-meadows. To the west, it abuts the Trivale Forest, which has been partly set up as a leisure park.

Pitești is adjacent to two reservoirs on the Argeș, in its Prundu area and in nearby Bascov (the Budeasa Dam). It is situated downstream from Lake Vidraru and upstream from the reservoir in Băilești.

History

Early history

The earliest traces of human settlements in this area relate to the Paleolithic. Coins minted by the Dacians 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 Pitești (part of a protection system for Roman Dacia and Moesia). During the Age of Migrations, the Pitești 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.

Pitești itself was first mentioned on May 20, 1386, when Wallachian Prince Mircea I granted a gristmill in the area to Cozia Monastery. Pitești was subsequently 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 Hermannstadt, Transylvania), the city originally developed as an important commercial center. 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 Argeș, and gradually expanded over the river, reaching the hill slopes to the west (in the 19th century, it completely absorbed ''Târgul din Deal''). Around that time, fighting occurred in and around the town as the new prince Radu Șerban clashed with the Ottomans and their Crimean Khanate allies.

Constantin Șerban financed the building of the Orthodox Saint George Church, completed in 1656; it was accompanied by a since-lost palace and adjacent gardens. Around that time, the city was visited by the Arab chronicler Paul of Aleppo and by the Swedish politician Claes Rålamb. It was during Brâncoveanu's rule that the city was home to ''Stolnic'' Constantin Cantacuzino, coinciding with the letters he exchanged with the English statesman William, Baron Paget. A tower and other princely houses, built by Brâncoveanu outside the town, gradually deteriorated over the 18th and 19th century (the last standing structure was lost in the 20th century). In 1689, Habsburg troops led by Louis William of Baden occupied the city as part of the Great Turkish War (they were repelled later that year).

18th and early 19th centuries

In November 1714, as a direct result of Swedish defeats in the Great Northern War against Imperial Russia, Swedish King Charles XII unsuccessfully sought an alliance with Sultan Ahmed III; on his way back from Istanbul, the monarch, met by troops under the command of Axel Sparre, passed through Pitești, and, after a three-week stay, made his way to Swedish Pomerania through Habsburg-ruled regions. During the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–1718, Habsburg troops attacked and captured the town; Pitești was again the scene of battles during the Austro-Turkish War of 1737–1739.

In 1780, the Tuscan numismatist Domenico Sestini passed through the Argeș region, and described the town as having 250 houses and 7 churches. In 1804, the citizens requested to have an upper school opened (to offer lectures in Greek, the educational language of the time); their request was denied by Prince Constantine Ypsilantis. During the 1790s, Pitești was visited by Luigi Mayer, a German pupil of Giovanni Battista Piranesi, who left etchings of the region (including the very first one of Pitești); they were published in London in 1810, with legends authored by T. Bowyer, whose caption for Pitești read "nothing more wild or romantic can be conceived".

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 Băilești and executed soon after, on orders from Eteria leader Alexander Ypsilantis).

Late 19th and early 20th century

The city was developed further after the 1859 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 Ștefănești. Their manor, ''Florica'', housed most major reunions of the National Liberal leaders. For a short period in 1882, Pitești was home to dramatist Ion Luca Caragiale, which has led some to propose that it was the unnamed National Liberal-dominated city depicted in Caragiale's famous play ''O scrisoare pierdută''.

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 Strousberg, this was the second project of its kind in Romania (after the Bucharest-Giurgiu rail link of 1869).

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 the post-war existence of Greater Romania, Piteşti was a regional cultural center, notably hosting the 1928-1929 series of the magazine ''Kalende'' (published in cooperation by literary critics Vladimir Streinu, Şerban Cioculescu, Pompiliu Constantinescu and Tudor Şoimaru).

World War II and communism

The city was affected in various ways by World War II and the successive regimes. After the fascist National Legionary State was proclaimed by the Iron Guard in late 1940, a bronze bust of former Premier Armand Călinescu (whom the Guard had assassinated in September 1939), was chained and dragged through the city streets. In December 1943, under the dictatorship of ''Conducător'' and Piteşti native Ion Antonescu, it saw the last deportation of Romani people into Romanian-occupied Transnistria (''see Holocaust in Romania''). 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, when it served as capital of the newly-created Regiunea Argeş, 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 secret police 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). ''Florica'' was nationalized in 1948, and was later partly devastated by Romanian Communist Party activists (for a while during the 1970s, it served as the residence of Communist politician Ion Dincă). The bust of Ion Brătianu, standing in front of the Saint Nicholas Church, was removed and melted, and the church itself was demolished in 1962.

Economy

Piteşti is one of the most industrialized cities in Romania. It is the center of the automotive industry in the country: the Automobile Dacia automaker is situated in the nearby town of Mioveni, and several other automobile parts manufacturers are located within its urban area (Dräxlmaier Group, Lear Corporation and Valeo). The city also houses the Arpechim oil refinery, part of the Petrom group. The plant, established as a state-owned company during the communist regime, has traditionally been the center of controversy over its air pollution records. In 2007, the Ministry of the Environment withdrew Arpechim's permit, but Petrom contested the decision in court. The plant is scheduled to gradually reduce its activity over a period of several years, pending eventual closure.

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.

Culture

The city is home to a County Theater, named in honor of playwright Alexandru Davila. Its branches include a puppet theater (created in 1949), the ''Estrada'' section for open-air performances (1958), and a folklore section (1970). The Theater's Studio 125 was established in May 1975 by director Liviu Ciulei. A public library, named after intellectual figure Dinicu Golescu, was created in 1869 through a donation made by Paraschiva Stephu, a female member of the upper class; a large part of its volumes were donated by historian George Ionescu-Gion in 1904.

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 National College (founded 1866) and the Zinca Golescu National College. There are also 20 primary schools, 23 kindergartens and 10 nursery schools.

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.

Sport

The major football club in the city is FC Argeş Piteşti, which plays in Liga I, and has the Nicolae Dobrin Stadium as its home ground. In addition, the city was home to a Liga II football club, Internaţional Piteşti (located on Stadionul Ştrand), and has a school which doubles as a junior team, Sporting Piteşti. 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.

Gallery

Natives

Twin towns

Piteşti is twinned with: Borlänge Bydgoszcz Caserta Kragujevac Muntinlupa Springfield, Ohio Sumgait Tynaarlo

Notes

References

''Monografia geografică a Republicii Populare Romîne'', Vol. I: "Geografia fizică", Editura Academiei RPR, Bucharest, 1960

Adrian Cioroianu, ''Pe umerii lui Marx. O introducere în istoria comunismului românesc'', Editura Curtea Veche, Bucharest, 2005. ISBN 973-669-175-6

Constantin C. Giurescu, ''Istoria Bucureştilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre'', Editura Pentru Literatură, Bucharest, 1966.

External links

Pitești University

Pitești prison at the Sighet Memorial

Category:Populated places in Argeș County Category:Cities in Romania

ace:Piteşti ar:بيتيشت bg:Питещ ca:Piteşti cs:Piteşti da:Piteşti de:Pitești es:Piteşti eo:Pitești fa:پیتشت fr:Pitești hr:Piteşti id:Piteşti it:Piteşti he:פיטשט jv:Piteşti kk:Питешти lt:Piteštis lmo:Piteşti hu:Pitești nl:Piteşti ja:ピテシュティ no:Piteşti nn:Piteşti pnb:پتیشتی pl:Piteşti pt:Piteşti ro:Pitești ru:Питешти sr:Питешти fi:Piteşti sv:Pitești tg:Питешти tr:Pitești vi:Piteşti war:Piteşti zh:皮特什蒂

Coordinates	44°25′57″N26°6′14″N
Name	Costi Ioniţă
Background	solo_singer
Born	January 14, 1978Constanţa, Romania
Instrument	Vocals
Genre	Dance, Pop, Manele
Years active	1998–present
Label	CAT Music, MediaPro Music
Associated acts	Valahia, Adrian Minune, Blaxy Girls, Bob Sinclar, Shaggy, Mario Winans, Andrea, Celia
Website	www.costi.ro }}

Costi Ioniţă (born January 14, 1978) is a Romanian singer, songwriter and record producer, regarded as one of the most celebrated ethnic Romanian vocalist of ''muzică orientală'' (manele). Born in Constanţa, he began his musical career by singing Romanian traditional music. He however achieved fame as a member of the pop boy band Valahia, launching several hits. In 1999 he started to experiment with ''manele'', a composite Balkanic musical style, and in 2000 he collaborated with acclaimed manele singer Adrian Minune on ''Of, viaţa mea'' ("Oh, my life"), one of the first mainstream successes of the genre in Romania. Following Valahia's dissolution in 2002, he started a solo career, concentrating on manele. In this period he collaborated with several well known manele singers. His success is considered unusual, as he is one of the few ethnic Romanian in a genre perceived as Romani. Also, unlike his Romani counterparts, Costi Ioniţă does not use a nickname. Despite his success in manele, he also experimented with other musical styles, such as rock, dance or opera, avoiding to be identified with ''manele'' or to be too closely associated with the Romani culture.

In the late 2000s Costi Ioniţă extended his act in the Balkans and Middle East, achieving success in Turkey and Saudi Arabia with the song ''Ca la Amsterdam'' ("Like in Amsterdam"), a tune included in the 2010 compilation issued by Café del Mar. He also launched several hits in Bulgaria, in collaboration with local singers.

Since 2008 Ioniţă acts as producer and songwriter for the pop/rock girl band Blaxy Girls. In 2009 he reached the finals of the Romanian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with three songs he composed, one sung by himself, one by Blaxy Girls, and the third by another group, IMBA.

In July 2007 he launched a music channel, ''Party TV'', and in October that year his company received licence for another two music TV channels, one of them, ''Mynele TV'', dedicated to promoting manele.

He is also involved together with Bulgarian singer Andrea in the Sahara music band, a group that has released several hits and singles featuring Bob Sinclar and Shaggy and another one featuring Mario Winans. In 2011 he featured with Serbian singer Ana Kokic in her single " Idemo na sve".

References

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:People from Constanţa Category:Romanian dance musicians Category:Romanian manele singers Category:Romanian pop singers

fr:Costi Ioniță ro:Costi Ioniță tr:Costi Ioniţă