Villa Alegre, Chile

Villa Alegre (Spanish for "joyous town") is the name of a municipality and city located in Linares Province, Maule Region of Chile. With 190 km², Villa Alegre is the smallest municipality by area in the Maule Region. The municipality population is 14,725 inhabitants and the urban population is 7,332 (2002 census). It sits 92 meters above sea level.

History

Villa Alegre was founded on May 6, 1891 and was one of the first places in Chile to have an electric tramway service, in 1915.

Economy

Villa Alegre and its neighbor San Javier are traditional winemaking areas. The Loncomilla valley, which includes these two comunas, is endowed with some of the better vineyards and quality wines of the bountiful Maule Valley, in the Chile's central valley viticultural regions or appellations.

Local government

The mayor of Villa Alegre is Arturo Palma Vilches (PPD).

The municipal councillors are:

* María Ignacia González Torres (PDC)
* Héctor Del Tránsito Manosalva González (PRSD)
* Justo Rebolledo Araya (PS)
* Alvaro Dieguez Angulo (RN)
* Eduardo Bustamante Maureira (RN)
* Edgardo Bravo Rebolledo (RN)

Famous People born in Villa Alegre

* Juan Ignacio Molina, (Abate Molina): Jesuit priest, naturalist and scholar of the 18th and 19th centuries.
* Malaquías Concha Ortiz, politician and social reformer.

External links

* [http://www.turismovillalegre.cl Tourism in Villa Alegre]
* [http://www.emol.com/especiales/festivales_05/villa.htm The Silver Orange Festival in Villa Alegre]
* [http://www.turismochile.com/guia/linares/articulos/954 Tourism]
* [http://www.tramz.com/cl/tto/07.html The Tramways of Chile]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Villa+Alegre,+Maule+Chile&ie=UTF8&ll=-35.674747,-71.743963&spn=0.009082,0.018368&t=k&om=1 Google Map I of Villa Alegre]
* [http://local.google.com/local?f=q&hl=en&q=Villa+Alegre,+Maule+Chile&ie=UTF8&ll=-35.673892,-71.740379&spn=0.035211,0.084457&t=k&om=1 Google Map II of Villa Alegre and River Loncomilla]