Australian citizens who wish to legally marry in Italy must complete a two-step process: obtaining an Atto Notorio from an Italian court or consulate, and a Marriage Nulla Osta sworn before the Australian Consulate and legalized at the competent Prefettura. Once both documents are issued, the civil wedding can be booked at the Italian Town Hall.
Legal Requirements for Australians marrying in Italy
If you are an Australian citizen planning to get married in Italy, you must follow a two-step legal process before your civil wedding can take place.
Below, we outline each requirement, timeline, and legal step to ensure a smooth and stress-free wedding process.
📌 Step 1: Obtain an Atto Notorio
The Atto Notorio is a a declaration under the declarant responsibility confirming that there are no legal obstacles to your marriage under Italian law.
📌 Where to obtain it?
- In any Italian Court
- In an Italian Consulate in Australia:
📌 Validity:
- The Atto Notorio expires after 90 days, meaning it must be issued no more than three months before the wedding date.
📌 Step 2: Obtain a Marriage Nulla Osta
📍 The Marriage Nulla Osta is issued by the Australian Embassy in Rome and confirms that there are no legal impediments to your marriage under Australian law.
📌 How to obtain it?
Swear an affidavit before an Australian official at the Australian Consulate in Italy.
The Australian Consul or their deputy will sign your sworn statement.
We will then legalize the signature at the competent Prefettura.
📌 Important Considerations:
- Not every Prefettura can legalize your Nulla Osta, and most are fully booked.
- We have monthly reserved slots to expedite the process.
- If you have been previously married, you must present the original divorce decree or death certificate (copies are not accepted) at the Australian Embassy in Rome.
- If a divorced woman wishes to remarry within 300 days of her divorce, she must obtain permission from an Italian Court.
📌 Validity:
- The Marriage Nulla Osta expires after 180 days, so your civil wedding must take place before this deadline.
Once both the Atto Notorio and Marriage Nulla Osta are completed, we can proceed with booking your civil wedding in Italy.
📌 Booking Your Civil Wedding in Italy
Once we have legalized your Nulla Osta and your Atto Notorio is issued, we will:
📍 Contact the Italian town hall of your choice and submit all required documents.
📍 Provide a professional interpreter (mandatory by Italian law if either of the spouses does not understand Italian language).
📍 Schedule the declaration of no impediments, a legal appointment to confirm:
✅ No kinship, affinity, adoption, or affiliation exists between spouses (Article 87, Civil Code).
✅ No other legal impediments apply (Articles 85, 86, and 88, Civil Code).
📌 Marriage Banns (Pubblicazioni di Matrimonio)
- If one spouse is a resident of Italy (regardless of the nationality), you must initiate the marriage banns process at the town hall where the spouse resides in Italy.
- If neither spouse resides in Italy, you only need the declaration of no impediments mentioned above (usually 1–2 days before the civil wedding)
📌 Marriage Certificate or “estratto per riassunto dell’atto di matrimonio“.
- Following the civil ceremony, or a few days after, you will receive your official Italian marriage certificate or the “estratto per riassunto dell’atto di matrimonio” (the latter being the only certificate that records the law chosen to govern your matrimonial property regime after the marriage).
Special Note: Dual Australian–Italian Citizens or Residents in Italy
If either party is resident in Italy (even if Australian), or is an Italian citizen residing abroad, including dual Australian-Italian citizens permanently resident in Australia, the standard procedure described above does not apply.
In these cases, Italian law requires the completion of marriage banns (pubblicazioni di matrimonio).
Where the Italian party is formally resident in Italy, the marriage banns are filed with the Municipality of residence in Italy.
Where the Italian party is resident in Australia and duly registered with A.I.R.E., including dual Australian-Italian citizens, the marriage banns must be initiated through the competent Italian Consulate in Australia.
This second scenario requires particular attention, as it involves a different allocation of responsibilities between Italian and Australian authorities.
Because the Italian citizen resides permanently in Australia, the Italian Consulate in Australia is responsible for reviewing and assessing the marriage documentation.
Once the marriage banns are posted and published, an 11-day waiting period applies. Only once this period has elapsed may the couple proceed with the civil marriage.
Where the marriage banns are completed through the Italian Consulate in Australia, the Consulate must formally transmit a delegation (delega) to the Municipality selected for the civil marriage, which may be any City Hall in Italy.
Where the marriage banns are completed in Italy, because either party is formally resident in Italy, the civil marriage may take place either in the Municipality where the banns were initiated or in any other Municipality in Italy, subject to acceptance by the receiving Municipality.
📌Choosing the Applicable Property Law
One of the most important — and often overlooked — legal aspects for couples getting married in Italy concerns their matrimonial property regime.
Under Regulation (EU) 2016/1103 of 24 June 2016, spouses have the right to choose the law that will govern their matrimonial property regime instead of having it determined automatically by conflict-of-law rules.
In practical terms, before or at the time of the civil wedding in Italy, the couple may formally request that their matrimonial property regime be governed by:
- the law of a State of which one of the spouses is a citizen; or
- the law of a State in which one of the spouses is habitually resident.
For Australian couples, this can be particularly important. It allows them to maintain consistency between their marriage in Italy and their broader legal and financial planning in Australia.
This choice is not automatic.
It must be expressly declared and properly recorded during the marriage procedure. When correctly requested, the Italian authorities must record the spouses’ choice in the marriage records.
After the wedding, the spouses may request an important document known as the estratto per riassunto dell’atto di matrimonio.
This document is particularly significant because it is the only Italian marriage certificate that records the law chosen by the spouses to govern their matrimonial property regime.
Neither the standard marriage certificate nor the multilingual certificate contains this information.
For international couples, and especially for couples who may need to demonstrate abroad which law governs their matrimonial property regime, the estratto per riassunto dell’atto di matrimonio is therefore the most important marriage certificate issued by the Italian authorities.
📌 How to Make Your Marriage Valid in Australia
Apostille for Legal Recognition in Australia
To ensure that your Italian estratto per riassunto dell’atto di matrimonio is valid in Australia, we will:
- Apply for an Apostille (Hague Convention) on the marriage certificate at the competent Prefettura of the city where you got married.
- Translate it in English using the service of a freelance translator.
The translator must then declare before a court official the accuracy of the translation (asseverazione) - Since also the asseverazione is a public document it must be legalized with an apostille as well. This time competent for the placement of the apostille is the competent Public Prosecutor of the Court where the translator declared the accuracy of the translation.
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.
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