Italian village missing sunlight lights up town hall with a giant mirror to outsmart winter darkness

During harsh winters, many of us long for the brief warmth of sunlight breaking through the cold. The lack of consistent sunlight often results in low Vitamin D levels and sluggish energy throughout the day. In the Italian village of Viganella, this issue was particularly severe, with the town plunged into darkness from November 11 to February 2 each year due to towering surrounding mountains. To address this, former mayor Pierfranco Midali proposed a bold solution: installing a massive mirror to reflect sunlight into the village, according to Reuters.

To seek sunnier climes, architect Giacomo Bonzani took it upon himself to set up a 5-meter (16-foot) high, 8-meter (26-foot) wide mirror. The aim was to ensure sunlight touched the town square for at least six hours every day. In 2006, the village achieved this feat, hailed as “building its own sun,” according to VICE.

The process of installing the rotating mirror at the top of the mountain was complex and took almost eight years to complete, from its inception to execution. Furthermore, the mirror was designed to track the sun’s trajectory and pathways, helping to solve a peculiar problem.

Gianni Ferrari, an engineer, assisted Bonzani in working on the project. While not as strong as direct sunlight, the reflected light brought much-needed warmth and natural sunlight to the area. Notably, the mirror is utilized during the peak winter season and stays covered for the rest of the year. The area, lacking natural sunlight, has a population of merely 200 people.

The former mayor’s bold solution brought significant benefits to the village’s people, plants, and animals. The project, worth €100,000 ($103,815), attracted global attention. “Here it’s very cold in the winter and residents, many of whom are elderly, used to stay inside all the time. Now people are enjoying sitting on the bench in the square and having a chat,” a town official named Maria Velona told Reuters. The report added that local authorities with similar problems in Canada, the United States, and France contacted the mayor.

The project became a talking point on Reddit, with u/OpinionNo8118 sharing some pictures. They captioned the post, "A village in Italy surrounded by mountains gets the sunlight using a giant mirror." Their post, giving a glimpse and explanation of the mirror’s function, received 47K upvotes and 585 comments.

u/yamimementomori wrote, “Did they just deflect their problems? We should reflect on their ingenuity.” “My immediate thought was that it would make an interesting setting for a vampire story where the mirror got mysteriously sabotaged,” u/Lazy_Osprey jokingly remarked. “I think everyone in this village is vitamin D deficient,” u/woundsclose assumed. "Makes me think of the mirror trick for light displayed in 'The Mummy' with Brendan Fraser when they go to Hamanuptra and Evie explains the mirrors are meant to catch the light," shared u/ToothyMcGrynns.