Borgomezzavalle

Borgomezzavalle is a scattered comune in the Valle Antrona, created on 1 January 2016 by the merger of Seppiana and Viganella, with its town hall in the former. The quartered arms gather what the two villages did: a water-driven trip hammer for the ironworking recorded from the thirteenth century, a lily, a chestnut bearing seven fruits and a vine with four bunches of grapes. The vine also points to one of the proposed etymologies of Viganella, vignanella, “little vineyard”; other studies derive the name from vicana, the common lands of the vicinia.

At Viganella the sun never reaches the village from 11 November to 2 February: the mountain opposite blocks it completely. In December 2006 a mirror eight metres by five was set up above the houses to throw light onto the square; switched off for a time for lack of maintenance, it was repaired and works again. At Seppiana, once the only parish seat in the whole valley, stands the eleventh-century church of Sant'Ambrogio.