Member Article

Giant mirror takes village out of darkness

A village in the shadow of the Italian Alps has installed a giant mirror on a mountainside to reflect sunshine into its main square. Viganella, in the narrow Antrona valley, north of Turin, saw no sun for three months of the year before the project, reports CBC News. The 48 sq metre steel sheet is controlled by computers to follow the path of the sun and reflect its rays down into the village square for at least six hours a day. Viganella, with a population of only 197, formerly suffered from a complete lack of direct sun from November 11 to February 2. Mayor Pierfranco Midali presented the project for approval in January of this year to help lift his community out of darkness, and the £70,000 cost was met by local government and a private bank.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .