Dambovita
Former Wallachian capital where Vlad Tepes built Chindia Tower and Ceausescu met his end
When Wallachia needed a capital, Targoviste's oak-forested river valley won—hosting the princely court from 1431 until Bucharest finally prevailed in the 1710s. This is where Vlad III Dracula built his Chindia Tower, punished treacherous nobles by impaling them, and repelled Ottoman invasion through his infamous 1462 night attack. The city that witnessed medieval power now bookends modern Romanian history: Ceausescu's trial and execution occurred at a Targoviste military base on Christmas Day 1989, the site opening as a Museum of Military Tradition in 2025. Between these violent punctuation marks, Dambovita evolved from royal court to steel production, one of Romania's largest steel factories now operating where Wallachian princes once held court in the fertile sub-Carpathian hills.