Deep in Italian Alps lies the tiny town of Viganella. It’s about as far north as you can get in Italy before you cross into Switzerland.

But the Bishop who founded Viganella in the early 13^th century made a fundamental error in siting the town. It didn’t occur to him at the time – midsummer 1217 – that the idyllic location between two streams near the bottom of a deep valley would also be the cause of eight centuries of winter misery.

For most of the year, Viganella is beautiful. Picture postcard, even. But for 84 days in winter (November 11 to February 2) the village is completely in the shadow of a 1100m high peak to the south and receives no sunlight whatsoever.

The concept is delightfully simple: place a mirror high enough up a south-facing mountain so it can "see" the sun, normally hidden behind a tall mountain tpo the south. Angle the mirror so that it reflects the sun back down into the shadows and...ecco! (that's Italian for voila!). But it took some seven years and €100,000 (approx AU$165,000) to bring the concept to fruition.

While that doesn’t translate to darkness, it does – or at least did – mean a gloomy existence, making Viganella very much less than ideal during winter. Temperatures plummeted, flowers died and laundry took an eternity to dry naturally, if at all.

It seemed so unfair. The villagers could see brilliant blue sky above, could see the bright sunlight on the mountains overhead – yet they were destined to live in shadow.