Our Towns

Slatina, Romania

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Slatina is the capital city of Olt county, Romania, on the river Olt.

History
The town of Slatina was first mentioned on January 20, 1368 in an official document issued by Vladislav I Vlaicu, Prince of Wallachia. The document stated that merchants from the Transylvanian city of Braşov would not pay customs when passing through Slatina. The word Slatina is of Slavic origin, stemming from Slam-tina, "salted land" or "salty water"; a small minority promotes the theory that the term originates in the Latin "Salatina".

Economy
Producing 288,000 metric tonnes of primary aluminium in 2008, Alro is the largest aluminium smelter in Central and Eastern Europe (excluding CIS). Alro is today one of Romania’s largest companies with an important contribution to the local and national economic development. The company is part of the international industrial and investment group Vimetco NV, which operates in the aluminium industry. Alro's shares are traded on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

Other companies based in Slatina include ALPROM (which, like ALRO, is a subsidiary of VIMETCOGROUP), Altur (engine set manufacturer), Pirelli Tires Romania (tire-manufacturer), Cord Romania (steel cord for tires), and Benteler.
One of the oldest private businesses in Romania is the Slatina-based pastry shop La atletul albanez ("The Albanian Athlete").

Sport
There is an association football club in Slatina, Alro Slatina, that plays in Liga II (the second league of Romania).
The city is also home to KZN Slatina, a women's team handball club which plays in the second handball league of Romania.

Notable natives
• Eugen Ionescu - playwright
• Ion Minulescu- poet, writer and journalist
• Nicolae Titulescu - diplomat, Foreign Affairs minister and President of League of Nations
• Spiru Vergulescu - painter
• Ionut Lutu, Claudiu Niculescu, Rãzvan Rat, Gheorghe Craioveanu, Ion Danciulescu - soccer players
• Monica Niculescu - tennis player