Legal requirements for getting married in Italy

A civil ceremony before an Italian registrar is a legal marriage, recognised in Italy and at home. A religious ceremony can also carry civil effect: the Comune di Firenze lists banns as required for "matrimoni civili, religiosi concordatari e di altri culti ammessi" — civil, Concordat (Catholic) and other recognised-faith marriages. A symbolic ceremony is not a marriage at all: no Italian paperwork, no legal effect.

That distinction matters. A great many weddings in Tuscan villas are symbolic, with a short civil marriage completed quietly at home before or after the trip — a respectable choice, and often the simplest. But it is a choice, and better made deliberately than discovered six weeks out. If the ceremony in Tuscany is to be the legal one, everything below applies to you.

The nulla osta is a statement that there is no impediment to your marriage under the law of your own country. Without it the registrar cannot proceed, and it is the single item most likely to hold up a wedding date.

It is not one form. Different countries produce it in different ways, some obtainable only once you are physically in Italy, several with a fixed shelf life. Read the next section against your own passport — and if the two of you hold different passports, read it twice, because you will each need your own.

British nationals. The British Embassy in Rome issues the certificate of no impediment for marriages in Italy. The UK government publishes a Nulla Osta application pack containing affirmation and notice templates, in separate versions for opposite-sex and same-sex couples; its guidance directs you to take your notice of marriage to a notary so they can witness your signature before the documents are sent to the embassy. The pack was last updated on 20 August 2024.

US citizens. Two documents, not one. The first is an *atto notorio*, an affidavit sworn by the applicant together with four witnesses who are over 18 and unrelated to either party, before an Italian consular officer or a civil magistrate's court. The Italian Consulate General in Boston states that "the validity of the Atto Notorio is 180 days". The second is a sworn declaration made before a US consulate in Italy, confirming there is no obstacle to the marriage under US law.

Australian citizens. The Australian Embassy in Rome or the Consulate-General in Milan issue the sworn declaration, and the embassy is explicit that "Nulla Ostas sworn outside of Italy and Certificates of No Impediment are not valid for use in Italy". It "is valid for six months" and "costs the Euro equivalent of A$70.00 per Australian citizen", payable by card only.

Northern Europe. Several countries issue their own certificate of capacity to marry instead. The Comune di Firenze asks citizens of Austria, Germany, Moldova and Switzerland for a *Certificato di Capacità Matrimoniale* from their civil registry; citizens of Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Turkey for an equivalent capacity certificate; and citizens of Norway, Poland and Sweden for apostilled documents issued by their home municipality.

Foreign documents rarely travel into the Italian system unaided. Two steps recur.

Apostille. Birth certificates, divorce decrees and death certificates issued abroad are normally apostilled in the country that issued them, under the 1961 Hague Convention, then translated into Italian.

Legalisation in Italy. A declaration sworn at your embassy in Italy usually needs a further stamp before a registrar will accept it. The Australian Embassy states that once the nulla osta is issued "it will have to be legalised by the Uffico Legalizzazioni of the Prefettura", and that a revenue stamp — a *marca da bollo* — costing €16.00 must be bought beforehand. The Prefettura is a government office with its own hours and queues, in a city you are visiting rather than living in. Allow a working day for it, not an hour.

The comune, not the venue, marries you. Florence's own guidance for non-resident foreign citizens gives the shape of it, and other Tuscan comuni work similarly without being identical.

Documents are due in advance. Florence requires them "almeno quattro giorni prima della data fissata per il matrimonio" — at least four days before the date set for the marriage. That is the deadline for the documents, not for the planning; the date itself is booked much earlier.

Two witnesses, one for each of you ("uno per ciascuno degli sposi"), each with valid photo identification.

An interpreter, if either of you does not speak Italian. They must be present with valid ID both at the declaration and at the ceremony itself, and the comune does not provide one. This is the requirement couples most often miss, because it is not a document and so it does not appear on document checklists.

Ask the specific comune how banns apply in your case. The Comune di Firenze lists publications as mandatory for civil, Concordat and other recognised-faith marriages, and how that plays out when neither of you lives in Italy is a question for that town hall rather than for a guide.

A civil ceremony has to take place somewhere the comune has authorised. In Florence that means the comune's own approved settings — Palazzo Vecchio, the Giardino delle Rose, Museo Bardini, Santa Maria Novella and Villa Vogel — not a venue of your choosing.

The fee is not nominal. Florence's published charges for these ceremonies run from €2,500 to €5,100, depending on the setting and on the day and time, and cancellations within 30 days are not refunded.

This is where many couples split the day: a civil ceremony at the town hall, then the celebration at a villa or estate afterwards. A private villa is not automatically licensed for legal ceremonies — some comuni authorise outside settings and some do not — so confirm it before you fall in love with a terrace. Wedding planners working in a given comune deal with this every season and will know which way it falls.

You will need the original divorce decree or the death certificate of the previous spouse, apostilled and translated; the Australian Embassy notes that photocopies are not acceptable.

One provision catches couples off guard. Article 89 of the Italian Civil Code still reads: "Non può contrarre matrimonio la donna, se non dopo trecento giorni dallo scioglimento, dall'annullamento o dalla cessazione degli effetti civili del precedente matrimonio" — a woman may not remarry until 300 days after her previous marriage was dissolved or annulled. Both Italian legal references consulted for this page showed the article as operative when checked in September 2026, and the Australian Embassy warns its citizens of the same rule. An Italian court can grant a dispensation on application to the tribunal. If this affects you, raise it early: court timetables do not accommodate wedding dates.

You will be given an Italian marriage certificate. For British couples that certificate is the record — there is no second step at home. A UK register office puts it plainly: "If you have married abroad there is no facility in UK law to register your marriage in the United Kingdom." The advice instead is to "ensure you have adequate copies of your official marriage certificate from abroad, including official third-party translation into English, should you ever be asked to prove you are married."

So order several certified copies before you leave Italy, and have them officially translated. Doing it later, from another country, is slower and dearer. Couples from other countries should check their own registration rules, which differ.

Work backwards from two fixed points: the date you book with the comune, and the expiry of your nulla osta.

The expiry is the part people get wrong. An atto notorio is good for 180 days; an Australian nulla osta for six months. Start the consular paperwork too early and it can lapse before the wedding; too late and there is no slack for a rejected document. Roughly six months out suits the consular steps, with venue and comune booked well before that — often a year or more for a popular date. The full sequence is in our Tuscany wedding checklist, and doing it from another country in how to plan a wedding in Tuscany from abroad.

The witness and interpreter requirements apply however few guests you have. If you are eloping, you still need two witnesses with ID — and you may have to arrange them.

This is general information, not legal advice. Consular procedures, town hall fees and document requirements change, and they differ between comuni — the rules for Florence are not automatically the rules for Siena or Cortona.

Before you commit to a date, confirm the current requirements with your own embassy or consulate, and the ceremony requirements with the specific comune where you intend to marry. Every figure and quotation here is sourced and dated, and it is still worth checking that it has not moved since.