The church and the adjacent monastery watch over the coast from the top of the hill above the sea. In 1512, during the night of the Assumption, two vineyard keepers are said to have seen the Virgin Mary warning them of the deteriorating condition of the old 13th century church building. People thereupon rebuilt the church and renamed it the Church of the Vision of St Mary. The story about the sightings turned the path to the church into the most important sacred path in Istria. Today, Mary’s Ascension is commemorated by a procession of boats from Piran and Strunjan. The monastery was built by the Franciscans in 1907 and governed by them until 2014, in order to accommodate and tend to the pilgrims.