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{{Short description|Town in Santa Fe Province, Argentina}}
{{for|the village in Hungary|Helvécia}}
{{for|the city in Uruguay|Nueva Helvecia}}
{{for|other meaning of Helvetia|Helvetia (disambiguation)}}

[[File:CARTEL_EN_LA_ENTRADA_DE_HELVECIA_SANTA_FE.jpg|thumb|right|alt=See caption|Sign at the entrance of the town of Helvecia]]
'''Helvecia''' is a town (''comuna'') in the center-east of the {{province|Santa Fe|Argentina}}, on the San Javier River (which empties promptly into the [[Paraná River]]). It had about 8,500 inhabitants at the {{census-ar|2001}} and it is the head town of the [[Garay Department]].

Helvecia lies {{convert|94|km|mi|0|abbr=on}} north-northeast from [[Santa Fe, Argentina|the provincial capital]], to which it is linked by Provincial Route 1 and [[National Route 11 (Argentina)|National Route 11]]. It is also located only 15 km from the ruins of the old provincial capital, Cayastá.

The town was founded in 1865 by Dr. Teófilo Romang, who had signed a contract with the provincial government, receiving 50 km<sup>2</sup> of land for free on the condition of founding an [[agricultural colonies in Argentina|agricultural colony]] with 125 [[immigration in Argentina|immigrant]] families. Romang first came accompanied by 12 Swiss people in order to inspect the site, on 1865-01-01. Helvecia attained the status of ''comuna'' ([[commune (subnational entity)|commune]]) on 1886-07-14. 

Helvecia is a prime spot for fishing of the ''amarillo'' ([[Banded Pimelodid]], ''Pimelodus clarias clarias''), and hosts the National and Provincial Amarillo Fishing Festival in July, which includes fishing contests and folkloric celebrations.

==References==
{{reflist}}
* {{ar-mi-muni|SFE147}}
* {{ar-sf-inforama|708}}
* [http://www.intertournet.com.ar/santafe/lacosta.htm ''Bienvenidos a Santa Fe''] - Touristic website.

{{coord|31|6|S|60|5|W|region:AR_type:city|display=title}}

[[Category:Populated places in Santa Fe Province]]
[[Category:Paraná River]]

{{SantaFeAR-geo-stub}}