Viganella - An Italian Village that Brought the Sun Down to the Valley by Installing a Giant Mirror

There is a small beautiful village in the Piedmont region of Italy, named Viganella, where the sunlight does not reach for three long months during winter and so the village of an area of 13.7 square kilometers and of 197 inhabitants used to suffer from a complete lack of direct sun for 83 days from November to February. On 11 November the sun disappears and does not reappear until 2 February. On 2nd February the return of the sun's rays was celebrated with joy for several centuries every single year. That is until December of 2006 when the problem was fixed forever. Therefore, for the purpose of providing natural light to the entire village, a giant mirror was installed here on the top of a nearby mountain. But what was the reason for not getting sunlight in the village and how the village brought the sun down to the valley with the help of a giant mirror, let's know about it.

Actually, Viganella village is located at the bottom of a steep valley and the valley is so deep that the surrounding mountains throw a long shadow over the entire village that completely blocks the sun, causing the village to remain in shadow during three winter months. Therefore, after being disturbed by the cold and shadow, many people started leaving the village. But then a miracle happened when a local engineer and architect came up with a brilliant idea to reflect the sunlight into the village by using a giant mirror, an eight-by-five meter (26x16 ft) sheet of steel and weighing 1.1 tons. The 40 square meters mirror in size was installed on the opposite slope of the mountain at an altitude of 1,100 meters. The mirror is computer-operated and acts as a heliostat that tracks the sun and tilts and turns the mirror panels so that the rays always reflected downwards onto the town square half a mile away. But the mirror is too small to illuminate the entire village, so the main square of Viganella in front of the church was chosen. The project cost some 100,000 euros and was financed by the regional authorities.

According to the village's mayor, Pierfranco Midali, it was not easy to create this mirror. We had to find the right materials, learn about technology and find money specifically.