Cuca is a commune in

Argeș County Argeș County () is a county (''județ'') of Romania, in Muntenia, with the county seat at Pitești. Demographics At the 2021 Romanian census, 2021 census, the county had a population of 569,932 and the population density was . At the 2011 Ro ...

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the rarely used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in Ro ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. It is composed of fourteen villages: Bălțata, Bărbălani, Cârcești, Cotu, Crivățu, Cuca, Lăunele de Sus, Măcăi, Mănești, Sinești, Stănicei, Teodorești, Valea Cucii and Vonigeasa. It was one of the most remote places in Romania. Today, in Romanian, ''Cuca Măcăii'' means "a remote village or place, very difficult to reach".

History

The oldest document about Cuca is from April 3, 1853, referring to an even older document, from 1537. The commune was formed in 1968 at its current shape by merging the former communes Cuca and Lăunele. Another former commune was Măcăi.

Geography

Cuca is placed in the ''Getic Platform'', subdivision ''Cotmeana Platform''. The relief is segmented by many parallel valleys, while the villages are on the top of the hills, separated by forest areas. The rivers flow from north to south, south-east or south-west. The valleys dry up in summer. The

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

varies from . The climate is temperate, with moderate summers and cold winters. The humidity is usually high.

Villages

The commune includes 14 small villages (the largest number in Argeș County).

Transportation

There are two national roads close to Cuca: *DN 7 (or E81)

Pitești Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the river Argeș (river), Argeș. 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 in th ...

–

Râmnicu Vâlcea Râmnicu Vâlcea (formerly ''Râmnic'', ) is a city in Romania. Located in the south-central part of the country, in the historical province of Oltenia, it is the seat of Vâlcea County and its main urban settlement. According to the 2021 Romanian ...

*DN 67b

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Drăgășani Drăgășani () is a city in Vâlcea County, Romania, near the right bank of the Olt river, and on the railway between Caracal and Râmnicu Vâlcea. The city is well known for the vineyards on the neighboring hills that produce some of the best ...

. From these roads, the access way to Cuca is via local county roads: *DJ 678a (asphalted) connects Cuca to South with

Vâlcea County Vâlcea County (also spelt ''Vîlcea''; ) is a county (județ) that lies in south-central Romania. Located in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (which are separated by the Olt (river), Olt River), it i ...

and DN 67b. *DJ 678e (unasphalted) connects Teodorești village with DJ 678a. *DJ 703 (asphalted to North and unasphalted to South) connects Cuca with DN 7 to North and with DN 67b to South, in

Olt County Olt County () is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (the regions are separated by the Olt River, Olt river). The capital city is Slatina, Roma ...

. The distances to the nearest towns are: *

42 km *

32 km *

Curtea de Argeș Curtea de Argeș () is a municipiu, city in Romania on the left bank of the river Argeș (river), Argeș, where it flows through a valley of the Southern Carpathians (the Făgăraș Mountains), on the railway from Pitești to the Turnu Roșu Pass ...

52 km *

52 km * Slatina 80 km *

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

164 km.

Economy

Resources

Cuca has two major resources: forests and fruit trees. The forests cover a big part of the commune and all the villages have direct access to the wooded areas. Nearly all the remaining terrain is used for fruit trees (mainly plum trees). The fruits are used to make ''

țuică Țuică () is a traditional Romanian spirit that contains ~ 24–86% alcohol by volume (usually 40–55%), prepared only from plums. Other spirits that are produced from other fruit or from a cereal grain are called " rachiu" or "rachie". ''Țu ...

'', a Romanian alcoholic drink.

Firms

There are 21 firms in the commune, including a pharmaceutical point and small local shops. There are no industrial or agricultural companies. The big distances to nearby cities (see #

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

) and the lack of bus lines makes it very difficult for the local population to find a good job.

Problems

The main problem for the economy is isolation (see #

Transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

). The second problem is the lack of

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

. Some people say that in Cuca, water is as precious as in

Sahara Desert The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

. The villages are on the top of the hills and the rivers are about 100 m below the villages and they dry up in summer (see #

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

). The phreatic waters are even deeper, so permanent phreatic water exists more than 100 m below the river valleys. Pumping water from such depth is nearly impossible. A water pipeline was constructed to bring water to the villages in Cuca. For this, the pipe had to be longer than 100 km. It drains water from the river Topolog and continues south to other communes with similar water problems.

The legend of ''Cuca Măcăii''

In Romanian, ''Cuca Măcăii'' defines a remote village or place, very difficult to reach. It is still unknown how this expression appeared. However, the Măcăi village is called by the locals ''Cuca Măcăii''. Many people associate the commune Cuca with ''Cuca Măcăii''. The entire commune is formed by small villages, isolated in the forest (see

Villages A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

). In the past, transportation was very difficult. Until 1922 the national road DN 67b did not exist. Older maps show that even the road that connects Pitești and Râmnicu Vâlcea did not exist. Being isolated by sharp valleys and long, parallel hills (see

), the land where Cuca is today must have been a very isolated place.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuca, Arges Communes in Argeș County Localities in Muntenia