The monumental complex of the Branciforti Castle is located at the highest point of the village of Raccuja to dominate the whole valley. It dates back to the Norman era, even if its origins are to be found between the Roman and the Arab ages. Over the centuries the Castle was subjected to numerous changes, the most important of which dates back to 1200s when the entire building passed under the ownership of Baron Orioles. Subsequently, in the 16th century, it was sold to the Banciforti family which carried out other alterations. Following their rule, immediately after the unification of Italy, the whole monumental complex became a judicial prison. Today the property has been carefully restored after a conservation campaign in the 90s and is home to the municipal library and a museum area.
References:The Pilgrimage Church of Wies (Wieskirche) is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann. It is located in the foothills of the Alps in the municipality of Steingaden.
The sanctuary of Wies is a pilgrimage church extraordinarily well-preserved in the beautiful setting of an Alpine valley, and is a perfect masterpiece of Rococo art and creative genius, as well as an exceptional testimony to a civilization that has disappeared.
The hamlet of Wies, in 1738, is said to have been the setting of a miracle in which tears were seen on a simple wooden figure of Christ mounted on a column that was no longer venerated by the Premonstratensian monks of the Abbey. A wooden chapel constructed in the fields housed the miraculous statue for some time. However, pilgrims from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and even Italy became so numerous that the Abbot of the Premonstratensians of Steingaden decided to construct a splendid sanctuary.