Bevilacqua Castle is considered one of the finest examples of its kind on Veronese territory. It was erected in 1336. Guglielmo Bevilacqua and his son, Francesco, were both commissioned by the Della Scala (Lords of Verona) to erect it. Originally erected for purely military purposes, the castle was damaged during the period of League of Cambrai and lost its strategic importance during the reign of the Venetian Republic.
In 1532 the famous architect Michele Sanmicheli transformed it into a country-house. The castle was burnt by the Austrians in 1848, and its subsequent restoration added the neo-gothic elements to the structure visible today, including the battlements.
During the Second World War it became a German Military outpost, before being handed over to the salesian Fathers up to 1966, the year in which it caught fire once more, before being sold to private investors. Thanks to careful restoration the castle has regained its former splendour and can be visited throughout the year.
Bevilacqua castle is now the backdrop for plays, concerts and suggestive Medieval Pageants such as the Medieval Spring and New Year Festival. It also houses a restaurant and a renowned banqueting hall and conference centre which offers every modern facility in a setting steeped in tradition and history.
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.