Word: viganella
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...nature were on my mind during a recent pilgrimage to see a new piece of technology in the Italian Alps town of Viganella, nestled in a valley near the Swiss border. It sounds cozy, but come wintertime, nestled turns nasty, as not a ray of sun touches the town for nearly three months. So Viganella's mayor got the bright idea to install a giant, rotating mirror on a 900-m-high ridge to reflect the sun down on the shaded town's lone piazza...
Founded in the 13th century in this chilly spot - which was ideal for its access to both the river and mines - Viganella has declined with the sunset of the local iron industry. The hope is that both by luring more of the town's some 150 residents into the public square, and by attracting visitors, this device might revive an area that has lost more than two-thirds of its population in the past century...
...suggest to one of the locals that the recent arrival of winter sun must be a Copernican revolution. Viganella native Paolo Ragozza responds with a chuckle. "For us," he says, "it hasn't changed anything." Still, the nearby lodge owner is happy if the mirror brings new guests. "You'll see," he says, before giving driving directions, "it's a nice gadget." The town square is tiny, with no stores or restaurants, and is encircled by abandoned 15th century stone and wood cottages that look like drooping gingerbread houses. It is the vision of a dying mountain town, except...
...flashlight," he says, looking up and squinting. "I was expecting deck chairs and umbrellas, and cold drinks." A group of five men, including two building engineers, come to scout the project for the Italian town of Selvetta, where things are even darker - nearly four sunless months each winter. Like Viganella residents, they complain more of high heating bills than of depression supposedly linked to lack of sun. Franco Rolandi, who runs the only café nearby, says the scarce heat from the mirror isn't the point. "This town is heading for extinction. We need to do something," he says...
...ambitions of Viganella Mayor Pierfranco Midali, a 47-year-old train driver, don't stretch quite that high, but he says the €100,000 mirror project, funded by a bank and local governments, has already proved its worth by attracting so much attention. He admits the sun's bounce could be bigger. Midali notes: "Being the first, you can't expect perfection. We want to improve the design so others can use it too." Lodge owner Ragozza is more interested in p.r. than the science, suggesting the town could even start a Miss Mirror bikini contest each winter...
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