SV. ANDRAŽ V SLOVENSKIH GORICAH

The Municipality of Sv. Andrai v Slov-enskih goricah was established in 1998, when the Destrnik–Trnovska vas municipality was divided into three smaller municipalities, namely Destrnik, Trnovska vas and Sv. Andraž v Slovenskih goricah. In 1999 the municipality started functioning with all its authorities. It was named after the parish patron saint Andraž. The centre of the municipality is the Vitomarci settlement.

The municipality stretches along the hills of the central Slovenske gorice and includes seven settlements: Drbetinci, Vitomarci, Hvaletinci, Rjavci, Slavšina, Novinci and Gibina. Its size is 17.6 km2 and it has 1248 inhabitants, who mainly pursue arable farming, cattle farming, fruit growing and viticulture.

The area must have been colonised in pre-Roman and Roman times, however, there is no material evidence. There ran a Roman road from Ptuj to Radgona in the vicinity. Late Antique burial mounds in the surroundings are evidence of settlement in this part of Slovenske gorice, especially along the tributaries of the Pesnica River, whose swampy and overgrown valley divides the hilly landscape into two parts. It was a common route during periods of major migrations of peoples from the east into the hinterland of the Roman Empire. Since its settlement by the Slays in the sixth century AD, the area was occasionally invaded by Hungarians until the twentieth century.