Get to know all the steps to get married in Italy as an American.

Besides Planners, we have been legal consultants for the Italian foreign offices! This experience allowed us to gain deep expertise in foreign affairs.

Generally, we advise our American couples to plan their stay in Italy for approximately 7 days before the wedding date to be sure every appointment can be attended to in the proper office, respecting the timeline.

Traveling to reach the quickest offices may be necessary to get your documents ready as soon as possible.

We must attend an appointment at the nearest and most available USA Consulate, Italian Court, and competent Prefettura (we can handle the latter without you being present).

We can get you married in a week, and you won’t need to attend all the appointments.

You can see the 5 steps you need to marry in Italy as an American.

1) The first step is to make a sworn statement at Italy’s freer and closest US Consulate to obtain the nulla osta signed by the US Consul.

We will book the appointment for you and provide the sworn declaration to fill out only once you meet the Consul or the deputy.

2) In the second step, we will legalize the US Consul’s signature at the competent Prefettura placed on the nulla osta(sworn statement).

At this stage, your presence is unnecessary, so that you can visit beautiful towns such as Rome, Naples, or Florence.

3) In the third stage, we must go together to the quickest and most available Italian Court to obtain the issuance of the Atto Notorio. At this stage, you will be with us, and we will act as your witnesses (please note that siblings cannot act as your witnesses).

At the Court, we work with the interpreter is optional, so you will save money!

4) Once we have gathered the documents above (nulla osta legalized and atto notorio), you are ready for the first meeting at the town hall (in case one of the two is resident in Italy, the procedure is different, please read our post about pubblicazioni di matrimonio). 

We are talking about the so-called “verbale di giuramento” which is technically the declaration of no impediments to kinship, affinity, adoption, or affiliation under art. 87, numbers 1, 2, and 4 of the civil code, nor are there any other impediments according to art. 85, 86, and 88 of the same code.

At this appointment, you don’t need any witnesses, but an interpreter is mandatory if any of you needs help understanding Italian appropriately.

5)Generally, the day after, or some days later, depending on the availability of the town hall, you can get married in the room you have selected in the presence of the Major of the town or before the deputy.

Anyway, this appointment can be skipped in some town halls we know so that you can save time and enjoy your journey in the town you are visiting!

We can indeed attend the town hall on your behalf with a power of attorney and declare that there are no impediments to your wedding, according to the articles mentioned above.

Once you have been married, we will request the clerks more copies of your Italian marriage certificate because we will keep one copy to legalize to make it with apostille according to Hague Convention so that it is recognizable in the US and will ship it to you in the US or deliver it in person if you are still here.

Who will be your Counselors and Planners?

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 procedure such as:

1) Nulla osta process, legalization procedure, Court hearings for the refusal of the town hall when there documents missing , legal translation, apostille procedure, emergency procedure for legalization.

2) Same-sex couples that want to celebrate a civil union in Italy as in their country the union is forbidden;

3) Couples that come from countries where divorce is not allowed;

4) Italians living abroad registered at AIRE that need to recover their document to start the marriage banns in the Italian Consulate;

5) Assistance with people that come from countries that do not release the nulla osta;

6) American and Australian couples who needs assistance with “atto notorio” in an Italian Court or the Italian Consulate in the USA or Australia.

7) People with refugee status who have requested asylum in Italy.