Here the valley widens enough to accommodate the village, the River Sill and the B182 road; the Brenner Railway runs along the eastern side and the motorway A13 on the western, are on a higher level.

To protect the road in the territory of Gries, a fortress was built, though in 1241 a conflict arose between Albert III County of Tyrol and the Diocese of Brixen, which led to its demolition.

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor was a regular visitor of Gries since the territory was full of game, during his hunting expeditions stayed at the "Weißes Rößle" Inn.

In 1809 during the Tyrolean Rebellion the General Lefebvre, in retaliation for the defeat suffered by the Saxons troops near Mules, destroyed the station customs at Leug which was definitively closed in 1815.

In 1823 began the construction of a new church, completed in 1828, in the typical baroque style, that in Tyrol, had been widely used by Franz de Paula Penz.

Frederick IV Duke of Austria built at Leug, near the customs station, a small Gothic church, with a wide and squat bell tower looking like Romanesque.