Tuesday,
December 19, 2006
The
ANNOTICO Report
Ingenious!!!!
Mirror
Gives Italian Village its Place in the Sun
Yahoo News
Monday December
18, 2006
A village in the
Italian Alps is finally basking in winter sunlight thanks to a giant mirror installed
on a mountain top to reflect the sun's rays into the main square.
Viganella, with a population of
less than 200, lies in a valley so steep that each year from November 11 to
February 2 it hardly receives any sunshine.
That was until
Mayor Pierfranco Midali
decided to do something about it.
Now a 5-metre
(16-foot) high, 8-metre (26-foot) wide mirror tracks the sun's movement and
reflects its rays into Viganella's historic piazza.
The mirror, which
cost around 100,000 euros (67,000 pounds), was unveiled on Sunday to the
delight of the inhabitants.
"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," said Maria Velona, who works
at the townhall.
Midali has been contacted by
local authorities with similar problems in
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