Civil Wedding and Marriage requirements to get married in Venice
How to Apply for a Civil Wedding in Italy
We are a team of experienced lawyers and legal advisors, specializing in assisting foreign citizens through the legal process of getting married in Italy.
We support both foreign couples marrying in Italy and Italians living abroad registered with A.I.R.E.
Our goal is simple: to make your wedding process smooth, clear, and legally valid.
📋 What do you need for a civil wedding in Italy?
In most cases, foreign citizens need the following:
1. A valid passport
2. A nulla osta
3. In some cases, an atto notorio
Important: the exact procedure depends on your nationality.
🪪 Step 1. Prepare your passport
You must have a valid passport.
This is the basic identification document required for the marriage procedure in Italy.
📄 Step 2. Obtain the nulla osta
The nulla osta confirms that there are no legal impediments to your marriage.
Under Article 116 of the Italian Civil Code, this is the key document required for most foreign citizens.
The nulla osta can be obtained in two ways:
Option A. Issued by your Consulate or Embassy in Italy.
➡️ It must usually be legalized at the Prefettura.
Option B. Issued in your home country.
Some countries provide a certificate of capacity to marry to be issued in the home country instead.
In this case, it usually requires:
1. An apostille
2. A translation into Italian
Exception: for certain countries, the nulla osta is not required.
Under the 1980 Munich Convention, some countries issue a certificate of capacity to marry, which is directly accepted in Italy.
This applies to the following countries:
🇦🇹 Austria
🇩🇪 Germany
🇬🇷 Greece
🇮🇹 Italy
🇱🇺 Luxembourg
🇲🇩 Moldova
🇳🇱 Netherlands
🇵🇹 Portugal
🇪🇸 Spain
🇨🇭 Switzerland
🇹🇷 Turkey
Important: the certificate must be issued in the official multilingual format provided by the Convention and no legalization is required.
✍️ Step 3. Check if you need an atto notorio
The atto notorio is a sworn declaration confirming there are no legal obstacles.
Required for:
🇺🇸 U.S. citizens
🇦🇺 Australian citizens
It can be completed:
• before an Italian court in Italy
• or at an Italian Consulate abroad (in some cases)
Important: witnesses may be required depending on the procedure.
🏛 Step 4. Legalization and translation
Once ready, documents must be correctly prepared for Italian authorities.
✔️ Legalization at the Prefettura
✔️ Translation into Italian (if required)
Important: in most cases, you do not need to bring many documents from your home country.
🏢 Step 5. Submit documents to the Town Hall
Documents are submitted to the Municipality where the wedding takes place.
If neither of you is resident in Italy, you will sign a declaration of no impediments.
This usually happens:
📅 1–2 days before the ceremony
👥 No witnesses required
🗣 Interpreter required if you don’t speak Italian
📌 Final note
Every nationality follows a different legal path, so the process should always be checked case by case.
For more general details on our services, visit our FAQ section.
Best Wedding Venues for a Civil Wedding in Venice
Civil marriage is celebrated in the town hall of Venice.
There are several places where you can celebrate your civil marriage or civil union.
So let’s see which are the beautiful options the town hall offers!
Palazzo Cavalli
The historic Palazzo Cavalli is located in one of the most picturesque areas of Venice, overlooking the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge.
It is a landmark 16th-century, three-story Renaissance-style building whose façade is characterized by a sequence of stone corbels above the basement, supporting the two noble floors with four-mullioned and single-mullioned windows.
You can discover an excellent room with stucco work from the 1700s. Named after the Cavalli family who lived there, it was also home to American novelist James Fenimore Cooper and art scholar Aldo Ravà, who set up the palace in typical 18th-century Venetian style, with original paintings, furniture, and ceramics.
The largest one is brightly lit, with a whole wall of large windows looking out over the Grand Canal, enjoying a panoramic, decidedly privileged view. One can also admire a prestigious painting, “Le nozze D’oro” from 1909.
The painting, an oil on canvas measuring 120 cm by 207 cm, is a work by the famous Venetian artist Luigi Nono (1850 – 1918).
Sala Cuoi d’oro di Venezia
The majestic palace known as Ca’ Vendramin Calergi is a splendid building with a garden overlooking the Grand Canal, known and often cited in literature since the sixteenth century as “Non-nobis Domine” because of the inscription in Roman capitals that runs along the ground floor of the facade.
The palace is rich in history and has been an integral part of Venetian civilization and history for over five hundred years, recording the presence of valuable paintings and furnishings left at Ca’ Vendramin Calergi by the nobles who have inhabited it over time.
Sala Cuoi d’Oro is a splendid location dedicated explicitly to celebrating weddings or the establishment of civil unions and if desired, the ceremony can also be held in the palace’s inner garden.
Sala Consiglio Municipio di Favaro Veneto
The City of Venice provides the Favaro Veneto Municipal Council Chamber, located on the 1st floor of City Hall, for the newlyweds.
The Municipality of Favaro Veneto is one of the six districts of the Municipality of Venice and corresponds to the former District No. 10.
Like the others, it was established under Article 22 of the Statute of the Municipality of Venice “to represent their respective communities, look after their interests and promote their development.
Sala Palazzo Persico di Malamocco
The City of Venice, in a beautiful location in the historic village of Malamocco, makes Palazzo Persico available to couples to celebrate weddings and establish civil unions.
Palazzo Persico, also known as Palazzo Pretorio, is a historic 14th-century Venetian Gothic-style building located in the heart of the village of Malamocco on the island of Lido di Venezia.
The main floor of the building hosts the Hall for the celebration of weddings and civil unions.
The Hall is set up with furnishings in shades of pink and gold.
Other legal informations
Property regime
If the spouses do not declare to the Registrar their choice of a property regime (for example, opting for separation of assets) at the time of marriage, the “community of assets” regime is automatically established under Italian law.
Spouses may, at any time, stipulate marriage agreements by public deed before a Notary to change this regime. However, it is important to note that in Italy any prenuptial agreement drafted locally cannot override the mandatory rules on separation and divorce. In case of dissolution of the marriage, Italian family law provisions will prevail over private agreements.
‼️ Please note that foreign spouses or Italian citizens residing abroad may also benefit from Article 30 of Legge no. 218/1995, which allows them to choose, by express declaration, that their property regime be governed either by the law of the State of which at least one spouse is a citizen, or by the law of the State where at least one spouse resides.
Filiation:
When celebrating the marriage, the spouses can also declare that they recognize any natural children from their union.
Certificates:
Immediately after the civil marriage is celebrated, the Civil Status Office may issue the marriage certificates upon our request.
We will obtain the certificate that best fits your situation, in line with the applicable international conventions and your personal needs — for example, depending on where you will live after the wedding and any requirements related to your chosen property regime.
‼️We generally request the “estratto per riassunto dell’atto di matrimonio” (marriage extract), because this certificate includes the decision you made regarding the law applicable to your property regime.
In addition, for foreign couples, depending on the applicable Convention, a multilingual marriage certificate may be issued upon our request under the Vienna Convention.
This certificate does not require legalization or translation, and can be used directly in all member countries.
The countries that have signed the Vienna Convention include: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Croatia, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, and Turkey.
Written by Alessandro Pirrò
Alessandro is a former legal advisor to the Italian Government and has worked with top law firms in Rome, focusing on international marriage and recognition abroad. He now supports foreign couples getting legally married in Italy, offering expert guidance on paperwork, consular requirements and legal recognition in their home country.
Who will be your Legal Counselors in Venice?
Due to our experience in law firms and the foreign offices of the Italian public administration, we gained significant expertise in Consular affairs, and we are trained to solve the most complicated procedures such as:
- Marriage Nulla osta process, legalization procedure, Court hearings for the refusal of the town hall when documents are missing, legal translation, apostille procedure, emergency procedure for legalization.
- Immigration law services and consular support for non-EU citizens applying for a Schengen visa.
- Family reunification and family cohesion.
- Same-sex civil union for couplesfor couples who wish to celebrate their union in Italy when it is not permitted in their home country.
- Couples from countries where divorce is not allowed.
- Italians living abroad registered at A.I.R.E. who need to recover their documents to start the marriage banns in the Italian Consulate.
- Assistance for people from countries that do not issue a nulla osta.
- American and Australian couples who need assistance with the “atto notorio” in an Italian Court or the Italian Consulate in the USA or Australia.
