The church of Santa Maria della Valle, also called Santa Maria della Scala, is known under the name of Badiazza, and was probably built during the 11th century in the Badiazza dried up riverbed of a stream that gives its name to the church. The church, that lies at the feet of the San Rizzo mountains, was recently restored and given back to the citizens and tourists who love to discover historic beauties not too far from the city centre.
The history of the monastic community is unconfirmed. It was founded by Normans at the end of the 11th century or by the Cistercian community founded in the 13th century. The monastery and the original church were enlarged and incorporated together, and the religious site was elevated to the rank of Abbey.
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.