What is Sterzing known for?

Forty-six metre tower built in 1472 at the centre of the town, dividing the Altstadt from the Neustadt as the symbol of Vipiteno. Town of the Fuggers, who owned the Schneeberg silver and lead mines in the Ridnaun valley and made Vipiteno a Habsburg financial hub in the late fifteenth century. Altstadt and Neustadt streets lined with painted facades, oriel windows and stepped gables built during the silver boom of the 1400s and 1500s.

Sterzing is a comune in the province of Bolzano, Trentino-South Tyrol region of Italy, about 75 kilometers from Bolzano.

Trentino-South Tyrol · Bolzano

Sterzing

A bilingual mining town at 948 metres on the Brenner road, where a 46-metre tower built in 1472 still divides the old town from the new.

948m

Elevation

75 km / 47 mi

Nearest hub (Bolzano)

6,915

Population

May–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Why come

Vipiteno sits at 948 metres in the upper Wipptal, twelve kilometres south of the Brenner Pass and the Austrian border, with the Eisack river running through the medieval town and the Stubai Alps rising on three sides. The German-speaking population calls it Sterzing and outnumbers the Italian speakers by roughly three to one. The town grew rich in the late fifteenth century from silver and lead mined in the Schneeberg deposits of the Ridnaun and Pflersch valleys to the west, and from its position on the Brenner trade route. The mines belonged to the Fuggers of Augsburg, the banking family who financed Habsburg emperors; Vipiteno is still sometimes called Fuggerstadt. The Zwölferturm, a forty-six metre tower built in 1472, stands at the centre of Piazza Città and divides the Altstadt from the Neustadt, the two halves of the medieval town. Both halves are lined with painted facades, oriel windows and stepped gables built when the silver flowed.

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Gallery

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Known for

Zwölferturm
Forty-six metre tower built in 1472 at the centre of Piazza Città, dividing the Altstadt from the Neustadt and serving as the town's symbol.
Altstadt and Neustadt
Two halves of the medieval town on either side of the Zwölferturm, lined with painted facades, oriel windows and stepped gables from the silver-mining century.
Schneeberg mining museum
Provincial mining museum in the Ridnaun valley west of Vipiteno, on the site of the Fugger-era silver and lead workings that funded the town's wealth.
Chiesa parrocchiale di Nostra Signora della Palude
Late Gothic parish church on the north edge of the town, one of the largest Gothic religious buildings in Tyrol, with a 1497 high-altar tabernacle.
Castel Tasso/Reifenstein
Thirteenth-century castle on a rocky spur south of the town, one of the best-preserved fortified residences in South Tyrol, with original medieval interiors.

When to visit

Best months · May–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

May through October is the open season, with the Altstadt streets free of snow, hiking running from the town floor up into the Stubai Alps and the Brenner road clear. June and September are the most comfortable months, mid-twenties by day, cool nights at 948 metres. July and August are the busiest, with German and Austrian visitors stopping on the way south and the Vipiteno yoghurt festival drawing crowds in early July. November through April is the long quiet half of the year. The town shifts to its winter rhythm, with the Mercatini di Natale in December filling Piazza Città, and the Rosskopf ski area above the town running from late November. Snow can close the upper passes from December.