Sterzing (German pronunciation: [ˈʃtɛrtsɪŋ]; Italian: Vipiteno [vipiˈtɛːno]) is a comune in South Tyrol in northern Italy.

[3] The town traces its roots to 14 B.C., when Nero Claudius Drusus founded a military camp called "Vipitenum" along the road between what are now Italy and Germany.

At different times, people like Erich Priebke, Adolf Eichmann, and Josef Mengele were in transit here as they waited for forged passports for their journey out of Europe and by ship to South America.

[citation needed] King Henry I, Count of Tyrol, granted a seal, similar to the present, depicting a crippled pilgrim with a stick and the rosary above the Tyrolean eagle, this appeared as a coat of arms August 30, 1328.

[9] The church was built in 1636 and was consecrated the following year to Saint Mary Magdalene; it has a rectangular apse and a lateral chapel dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.

The present church was built on the initiative of Bishop Paulinus Mayr in early Tyrolean baroque on a project of Peter Delai in 1678.

The great high altar has six columns and an altarpiece representing the Coronation of Mary painted by Joseph Renzler in 1822, beside are two wood-carving of the Saints Francis Xavier and John of Nepomuk.

Above the altar on the right is placed a statue of the Madonna with Child of 17th century bordered by the Rosary formed by fifteen painted discs presumably by Joseph Mildorfer.

In the patio take place a Roman stone altar, dedicated to Lord Mithras and a milestone of the Imperator Septimius Severus; the same period the military road was completed in 200 A.D.