A vertical structure, integrated bipolar transistor incorporating a current sensing resistor, comprises a collector region, a base region overlying the collector region, and an emitter region over the base region. The emitter region comprises a buried region a surface region, and a first vertical diffusion region connecting the buried layer to the surface region. A second vertical diffusion region connects the buried emitter layer periphery to a first surface contact, while the surface emitter region is contacted, along three peripheral sides thereof, by a second surface contact. The transistor current flows from the substrate, through the base to the buried emitter region. It is then conveyed into the vertical region, which represents a resistive path, and on reaching the surface region splits between two resistive paths included between the vertical region and the surface contacts. These resistive paths form in combination the current sensing resistor incorporated to the transistor, whose terminals are led to the first and second surface contacts, respectively.