Berca is a commune located in the hillside of

Buzău County Buzău County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Buzău. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 432,054 and the population density was 70.7/km ...

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 ...

, in the valley of the river

Buzău Buzău (; formerly spelled ''Buzeu'' or ''Buzĕu'') is a city in the historical region of Muntenia, Romania, and the county seat of Buzău County. It lies near the right bank of the Buzău River, between the south-eastern curvature of the Carp ...

. It is an oil and

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

extraction location. The commune is composed of thirteen villages: Băceni, Berca, Cojanu, Joseni, Mânăstirea Rătești, Pâclele, Pleșcoi, Pleșești, Rătești, Sătuc, Tâțârligu, Valea Nucului, and Viforâta.

Landmarks

The Mud Volcanoes

The Berca Muddy Volcanoes

geological Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth s ...

and

botanical Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

reservation lies in the hills that surround the commune, near the Pâclele village.

Mud volcano A mud volcano or mud dome is a landform created by the eruption of mud or Slurry, slurries, water and gases. Several geological processes may cause the formation of mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are not true Igneous rock, igneous volcanoes as th ...

s, a rare geological phenomenon, occurs there when mud and gas are expelled from a depth of through structures resembling real miniature

volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...

es.

Rătești monastery

Rătești Monastery is a medieval monastery, attested by documents from the 17th century. It is an

Eastern orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, otherwise known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity or Byzantine Christianity, is one of the three main Branches of Christianity, branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholic Church, Catholicism and Protestantism ...

monastery of nuns, and hosts a museum exhibiting religious books and items.

Demographics

The Romanian census of 2002 reported a population of 9,602 for the Berca commune, making it one of the largest communes in the county; 99% of the inhabitants were ethnic

Romanians Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...

. At the 2021 census, Berca had a population of 7,741, of which 88.88% were Romanians.

Natives

* George Macovescu (1913–2002), writer and communist politician *

Ciprian Petre Ciprian Cătălin Petre (born 10 December 1980) is a Romanian former football player who played as winger for teams such as Juventus București, Unirea Urziceni, Gloria Bistrița, Gaz Metan Mediaş or Gloria Buzău, among others. Persona ...

(born 1980), footballer

Pleșcoi

Pleșcoi village is famous for its meat processing tradition. The

Pleșcoi sausages Pleșcoi sausages are a Romanian sausage made from mutton spiced with chili peppers and garlic, traditionally made in and around the Berca, Pleșcoi village, in the Buzău County of Romania. If the mutton contains too much fat, it can be balanced ...

are smoked

mutton Lamb and mutton, collectively sheep meat (or sheepmeat) is one of the most common meats around the world, taken from the domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries'', and generally divided into lamb, from sheep in their first year, hogget, from sheep in thei ...

sausages with

chili pepper Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of fruit#Berries, berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to ...

s and

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

. The name ''Pleșcoi sausages'' is a

protected designation of origin The protected designation of origin (PDO) is a type of geographical indication of the European Union aimed at preserving the designations of origin of food-related products. The designation was created in 1992 and its main purpose is to designat ...

in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

References

Berca Localities in Muntenia {{Buzău-geo-stub