Viganella and the rediscovered sun

04 February 2026

View from the top

New light for the Piedmont village “without sun”: restoring the historic mirror brings sunlight back to the community.

The story of Viganella is one of lost light, then found again, of an ancestral idea and contemporary technology. A story of sunlight that once wasn’t there and now is.
But let’s start from the beginning and from a place, more precisely, the square of a small Piedmont village tucked halfway up the Antrona Valley. Here, on February 2nd each year, residents celebrate the return of the sun after 83 long days of semi-darkness. From November 11th onward, in fact, natural sunlight disappears, hidden by the surrounding mountains, leaving room for an even darker winter.

From Archimedes’ mirror to Viganella

Where orography is harsh, human ingenuity sometimes steps in. Nearly two thousand years after the legendary feat of Archimedes, mirrors once again take centre stage, this time not to destroy, as the stories around the walls of Syracuse tell, but to help. In Viganella in 2006, an idea led to the creation of a huge computerized mirror. Installed at 1,070 meters above sea level, this 40-square-meter mirror follows the sun to reflect its rays onto the village centre, granting the square six hours of light. This ingenious solution, a symbol of resilience that made headlines worldwide and attracted international attention, became a daily ray of sunshine for residents.

But what happens when even this artificial sun “breaks down”? In 2024, the solar mirror’s mechanism failed, and the village found itself once again living in constant semi-darkness during the winter months.

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Restoring the light to bring life back to the village centre

In this context, Plenitude chose to offer its support to the community of Viganella. In line with its commitment as a Benefit Corporation, it contributed to the restoration work on the mirror, carried out by the Municipality of Borgomezzavalle, to ensure full usability of the village square and, with it, the social activities of its inhabitants.
The rediscovered light, essential to the social life of the village, also became an artistic installation. A large luminous sphere, temporarily placed in the centre of the square in November 2025, illuminated the village to symbolically celebrate the return of the sun and the commitment to transforming energy into shared value. A light that brings people together and allows the village to remain a community.

Beyond the obstacle: the energy of “Adopt a Panel”

But the vision reaches beyond the valley’s borders. If in Viganella the challenge was to bring back the sun that wasn’t there, the goal now becomes broader: bringing solar energy even where sunlight cannot be directly captured. This philosophy inspires “Adopt a Panel”, the initiative that frees the choice of photovoltaics from the constraint of installing a system on one’s own roof, since the energy produced in the photovoltaic fields of Assemini, Sardinia, is shared virtually. In this way, anyone can take part in the energy transition and experience photovoltaics. And the sun that wasn’t there can shine beyond every barrier.