Vidra ( or ''Kisaranyos'') is a commune, located in

Alba County Alba County () is a county (județ) of Romania located in the historic region of Transylvania. Its capital is Alba Iulia, a city with a population of 63,536. Name "Alba", meaning "white" in Latin and Romanian, is derived from the name of the ...

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

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 the commune with the second highest number of villages (39) in Romania. These are: Băi, Bobărești, Bogdănești, Bordeștii Poieni, Culdești, Dealu Goiești, Dos, Dosu Luncii, Dosu Văsești, Drăgoiești-Luncă, Ficărești, Gligorești, Goiești, Haiducești, Hărăști, Hoancă, Jeflești, Lunca, Lunca Bisericii, Lunca de Jos, Lunca Goiești, Lunca Vesești, Modolești, Nemeși, Oidești, Pitărcești, Pleșcuța, Poieni, Ponorel (''Aranyosponor''), Puiulețești, Runc, Segaj, Urdeș, Vâlcăneasa, Vâlcești, Valea Morii, Vârtănești, Văsești and Vidra. It also included Vidra de Sus and other villages until 1924, when they were split off to form Avram Iancu Commune. The commune, and the area surrounding it (''Țara Vidrelor''), is named after the

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

, a semiaquatic mammal which lives around there. The area has been inhabited since the

Dacians The Dacians (; ; ) were the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. They are often considered a subgroup of the Thracians. This area include ...

and the Roman conquest, due to its proximity to the gold mining sites of the

Apuseni Mountains The Apuseni Mountains (, "Western Mountains"; , "Transylvanian Mountains") are a mountain range in Transylvania, Romania, which belongs to the Western Romanian Carpathians. The highest peak is the Bihor Peak at . The Apuseni Mountains have ab ...

. Its current mayor is Doru Petricele, elected in 2020. The previous mayor, Ioan Alexandru Resiga, was in office from 2004 until 2020.

References

Communes in Alba County Localities in Transylvania {{Alba-geo-stub