Italians on Italians
Beyond Toscano

Let there be light

Let there be light
Beautiful it may be, but the small village of Viganella in Piedmont had one problem that overshadowed the charm of the town square, literally. For 83 days a year, during the winter months, the village got no sunlight as the sun was too low below the mountains. It didn’t return until February 6th each year, when residents would throw a huge party to celebrate. People grew tired of the long depressing dark of winter, so the mayor got together with his childhood friend, architect Giacomo Bonzani and came up with an ingenious solution – a giant mirror.
 
Installed high on the mountain overlooking the village, the mirror is made of specially designed sheet steel and stands 8 metres tall by 5 metres wide. As the sun moves throughout the day, the computer-controlled mirror tracks it’s path and reflect sunlight down to the town square below 8 hours a day.  At a cost of about $140k US dollars, it wasn’t cheap, and it took some serious campaigning to get it installed, but for the residents who now benefit from more light in the winter months, it was money well-spent.