Getting Married in Italy as a Foreigner
Complete Legal Guide to Getting Married in Italy and Obtaining a Valid Marriage Certificate Abroad
Marriage License Requirements for Foreign Citizens Getting Married in Italy
Getting married in Italy as a foreign citizen is perfectly possible, but the legal procedure must be handled with precision.
Italian marriage law combines national rules, international conventions, and municipal practices, and each step must be completed in the correct order.
Below you’ll find a clear, legally correct overview of how a civil wedding for foreign citizens works in Italy.
🗂️ Step 1 — The Key Document: Nulla Osta or Marriage Capacity Certificate
As a general rule, foreign citizens must prove that there are no legal impediments to marriage under the law of their country.
This is done through one of the following documents:
- Nulla Osta, issued by the competent foreign Consulate in Italy
- Certificate of Marriage Capacity, only for citizens of countries that are party to specific international conventions (e.g. the Munich Convention)
⚠️ Important
There are no informal alternatives to the Nulla Osta.
Suggestions found online about using “home country certificates” instead are legally incorrect, unless expressly provided for by an international agreement.
📌 Nationality-specific procedures
Some countries follow special, consolidated procedures. For example:
- U.S. citizens: affidavit before the U.S. Consulate + legalization + atto notorio
- Australian citizens: sworn declaration (Nulla Osta) before the Australian Consulate + atto notorio
These procedures lawfully replace the standard consular Nulla Osta.
🏛️ Step 2 — First Appointment at the Italian Town Hall
Once the correct documentation has been obtained and legalized where required, the procedure continues at the Italian Town Hall (Comune) chosen for the wedding.
For foreign citizens not resident in Italy, the process follows a standardized path.
At this stage, the spouses appear before the civil registrar to make the declaration required by:
- Article 109 of the Italian Civil Code
- Articles 10–12 of Presidential Decree no. 396/2000
🔍 What is declared
That no impediments exist under Italian law, including those relating to:
- kinship, affinity, adoption or affiliation (Article 87 c.c.)
- other impediments under Articles 85, 86 and 88 c.c.
🗣 Interpreter
A professional interpreter is mandatory if one or both spouses do not speak Italian.
👥 Witnesses are not required at this stage.
📢 Marriage Banns — When Are They Required?
Marriage banns (pubblicazioni di matrimonio) are not always required.
🇮🇹 If one spouse is resident in Italy
- Banns must be posted at the Town Hall of residence
- They are published for 8 consecutive days, followed by a 3-day waiting period
- If no objections are raised, the couple may marry in the same or another Italian municipality
🌍 If the Italian citizen resides abroad
- Banns must be initiated through the Italian Consulate having jurisdiction over the place of residence abroad
- This applies regardless of A.I.R.E. registration
💍 Step 3 — The Civil Wedding Ceremony
Once all prior steps are completed, the civil wedding ceremony is scheduled.
The ceremony is officiated by:
- the Mayor, or
- a delegated civil registrar
✅ Required on the wedding day
- Two adult witnesses
- A legal interpreter, if needed
The ceremony is conducted in Italian and has full legal validity.
At the end of the ceremony, the marriage is officially registered.
📄 Step 4 — The Correct Italian Marriage Certificate
After the wedding, we request the estratto per riassunto dell’atto di matrimonio.
This certificate is crucial because:
- it is the only Italian marriage certificate that can report
the law chosen by the spouses to govern their matrimonial property regime - this mention is included only upon specific request, made on our formal instruction
⚖️ Legal basis
This is made possible by Article 30 of Law no. 218/1995, which allows spouses to choose:
- the law of the citizenship of one spouse, or
- the law of the residence of one spouse
🌍 Step 5 — Recognition of the Marriage Abroad
To make the Italian marriage legally effective abroad, the certificate must be legalized.
Depending on the country, this involves:
- Apostille (Hague Convention), or
- Consular legalization, if the Hague Convention does not apply
📄 We also handle:
- the official sworn translation (asseverazione), and
- the second apostille, where required, because the sworn translation is a court act
⚠️ If the destination country is not a party to the Hague Convention,
consular legalization is the only legally valid method.
🌍 Recognition of the Italian Marriage Abroad: Vienna Convention vs Hague Convention
Once the civil wedding has been celebrated, the Italian marriage certificate must be formally prepared for use abroad.
The correct procedure depends on which international convention (if any) applies to the country where recognition is required.
📘 The Vienna Convention (Multilingual Certificates)
Some Italian Town Halls may offer a multilingual marriage certificate issued under the Vienna Convention on multilingual civil status extracts.
🔹 This certificate:
- is issued in multiple languages
- does NOT require translation or apostille
⚠️ Important limitation
The Vienna Convention applies only between States that have signed and ratified it.
If the destination country is not a party to the Vienna Convention, the multilingual certificate has no legal value for recognition purposes.
For example:
- ❌ Australia is not a party to the Vienna Convention
- ❌ The United States is not a party to the Vienna Convention
In these cases, the multilingual certificate cannot be used for any official purpose abroad.
📕 The Hague Convention (Apostille Procedure)
When the destination country is a party to the Hague Convention of 1961, the correct procedure is different.
In this case, the Italian marriage certificate must be:
- issued in Italian (not multilingual),
- legalized with an Apostille issued by the competent Italian authority.
If required by the destination country, the certificate must then be:
- translated by an official legal translator, and
- sworn before an Italian court (asseverazione).
Because the sworn translation is a court act, it must be:
- legalized with a second Apostille, issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Procura della Repubblica).
This is the procedure used, for example, for:
- Australia
- United States
- Canada
- United Kingdom
- most non-EU countries
🏛️ Countries NOT party to the Hague Convention
If the country where the marriage must be recognized:
- has not signed the Hague Convention, and
- does not accept multilingual certificates under the Vienna Convention,
then apostille is not possible.
In these cases, the only legally valid method is:
- consular legalization through the competent foreign Consulate in Italy.
✅ In summary
👉 Correct documents (Nulla Osta or US affidavit, or certificate of marriage capacity
👉 Town Hall declaration
👉 Civil wedding
👉 Proper certificate (estratto per riassunto dell’atto di matrimonio)
👉 Legal recognition abroad
Each step is interconnected.
One error can delay or invalidate the entire process — which is why legal coordination matters.e.
We will be your Legal Advisors for your Civil Marriage in Italy
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:
- Marriage 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.
- Immigration law services and consular support for non-EU citizens applying for a Schengen visa.
- Family reunification and family cohesion.
- Same-sex couples that want to celebrate a civil union in Italy when in their country the union is forbidden.
- Couples that come from countries where divorce is not allowed;
Italians living abroadregistered at A.I.R.E. that need to recover their document to start the marriage banns in the Italian Consulate. - Assistance with people that come from countries that do not release the nulla osta.
- American and Australian couples who need assistance with “atto notorio” in an Italian Court or the Italian Consulate in the USA or Australia.
- People with refugee status who have requested asylum in Italy.
