A hack for a lack of winter sunlight

"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 five-metre-high, eight-metre-wide mirror tracks the sun's movement and reflects its rays into Viganella's historic piazza, a 250-square-metre area, for at least six hours a day.

"The mirror, which cost around 100,000 euros (67,000 pounds), was unveiled on Sunday to the delight of the inhabitants."

Pierfranco Midali, the mayor of the small town of Viganella, in the Antrona Valley, north of Turin, Italy, holds the remote control computer as the giant mirror positioned on the hill behind starts reflecting the sun down into the town