Viganella is a comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

(municipality) in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola

Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola

Verbano-Cusio-Ossola is the northernmost province in the Italian region of Piedmont. It was created in 1996 through the fusion of three distinct regions which had previously been part of the Province of Novara...

 in the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 region Piedmont

Piedmont

Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...

, located about 120 km northeast of Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

 and about 30 km northwest of Verbania

Verbania

Verbania is a city and comune on the shore of Lake Maggiore, Piedmont, in northwest Italy, about north-west of Milan and about from Locarno in Switzerland.-Overview:...

. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 185 and an area of 13.7 km².

Viganella borders the following municipalities: Antrona Schieranco

Antrona Schieranco

Antrona Schieranco is a comune in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 120 km northeast of Turin and about 35 km northwest of Verbania, in a branch of the Val d'Ossola, on the border with Switzerland.Antrona Schieranco borders the following...

, Calasca-Castiglione

Calasca-Castiglione

Calasca-Castiglione is a comune in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 120 km northeast of Turin and about 35 km northwest of Verbania...

, Montescheno

Montescheno

Montescheno is a comune in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 120 km northeast of Turin and about 30 km northwest of Verbania...

, Seppiana

Seppiana

Seppiana is a comune in the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 120 km northeast of Turin and about 30 km northwest of Verbania...

.

Due to the mountains the town does not get direct sunlight for 83 days a year. To remedy this, in November 2006 the town set up a giant mirror

Mirror

A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection...

 with adjustable, computer-controlled orientation on the mountainside, consisting of 14 sheets of steel which together are 8 m wide and 5 m high. The mirror functions as a heliostat

Heliostat

A heliostat is a device that includes a mirror, usually a plane mirror, which turns so as to keep reflecting sunlight toward a predetermined target, compensating for the sun's apparent motions in the sky. The target may be a physical object, distant from the heliostat, or a direction in space...

, tracking the sun so that sunlight

Sunlight

Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through the Earth's atmosphere, and solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon.When the direct solar radiation is not blocked...

 always reflects onto the town square

Town square

A town square is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town used for community gatherings. Other names for town square are civic center, city square, urban square, market square, public square, and town green.Most town squares are hardscapes suitable for open markets,...

. The mirror was built at a cost of €100,000, or approximately €540 per resident.

The town was featured in a 2009 Italian/Canadian film called Lo Specchio (The Mirror).

External links

• Official Viganella site (In Italian)