Pitești

Pitești is a city in Romania, located on the Argeș River. It is the capital of Argeș County, situated in the Wallachia region, approximately 115 km (71 mi) west of Bucharest.

Historically, Pitești has been an important commercial and industrial center. Its industrial base includes automotive manufacturing (Dacia), as well as other industries such as textiles, chemicals, and food processing.

During the communist era, Pitești gained notoriety for the Pitești Experiment, a brutal re-education program conducted in the Pitești prison between 1949 and 1951. The program subjected political prisoners to extreme psychological and physical torture aimed at forcing them to renounce their beliefs.

Pitești is a transportation hub, with good connections to other major Romanian cities via road and rail. It also features cultural institutions such as museums and theaters. The city has a population of approximately 150,000 inhabitants (as of the early 2020s; official census data may vary).