Getting married in Italy as a foreign couple: civil, Catholic, civil union or symbolic

Italy is one of the few countries in Europe where two people who don’t live there can marry with no residence requirement, and many do: ISTAT counted 3,378 weddings in 2024 between two foreign spouses not resident in Italy, almost 2% of the country’s 173,272 marriages. Most of the work happens before you arrive — one document from your own country, translated and legalised — and then a short appointment at the town hall a few days before the day.

This guide sets out the four routes, the papers each needs, what the comune does and what it costs, and where a villa or a castle fits in. For the country’s regions and seasons see Italy; for the venues themselves, wedding venues in Italy.

Which ways can a foreign couple marry in Italy?

Italians themselves now marry mostly at the town hall: in 2024, 61.3% of weddings in Italy were civil (ISTAT). A civil ceremony in Italy is often a fine one — a frescoed hall in a palazzo, a garden, a villa the comune has registered — which is part of why so many couples from abroad choose it.

What is the nulla osta, and who issues it?

Article 116 of the Civil Code says that a foreign citizen who wants to marry in Italy must present to the registrar a declaration from the competent authority of their own country that, under the laws they are subject to, nothing stands in the way of the marriage. Italians call it the nulla osta. Florence’s marriage office lists what it must show: name, place and date of birth, parents, citizenship, residence and marital status, and that there is no impediment under articles 85–89 of the Civil Code. You also have to meet Italy’s own conditions — over 18, not already married or in a civil union, not closely related.

Who issues it depends on your nationality. As of October 2026:

For the US atto notorio, the Embassy lists two revenue stamps of €16 and one of €10.62, and a wait of four to ten days at an Italian court (an urgent one, issued on the spot, takes a €31.86 stamp instead of the €10.62). Witnesses must be over 18, may be of any nationality, and cannot be relatives or future in-laws. Getting it at an Italian consulate before you leave is usually easier, because some courts have waiting lists.

Translations, apostilles and the six-month rule

• Translation. Every document from abroad must be in Italian or come with an Italian translation. Greve in Chianti asks for a certified translator, with the translator’s signature legalised or apostilled too.
• Legalisation. A public document from a country in the Hague Convention needs an Apostille from the issuing country; otherwise consular legalisation. Public documents from other EU countries need no apostille (Regulation (EU) 2016/1191), and Florence’s office lists the EU and EEA countries it exempts.
• Freshness. Under Italian law, says the US Embassy, public documents from outside the EU are valid for six months from the date of issue — so nothing you hand in should be older than six months on the wedding day.
• Previous marriages. Bring the final divorce decree or the death certificate. A woman whose previous marriage ended less than 300 days before needs the authorisation of the local court, which decides after hearing the Procura (art. 89 of the Civil Code), or an exception that applies.

What happens at the comune?

Italians and residents publish banns for at least eight days, and may marry from the fourth day after. Foreign couples who don’t live in Italy publish none. Instead, a few days before the wedding, you sign a declaration at the marriage office that no impediment exists — with the interpreter, if you need one. How many days, and how far ahead the documents must arrive, is up to each comune:

Popular comuni have waiting lists — the US Embassy names May, June and September — so ask for your date as soon as you have a venue. Some ask you to choose your property regime at the ceremony (Amalfi’s list includes a declaration on it); if that matters to you, ask a lawyer which law will govern your property.

Witnesses, interpreter and the ceremony

• Two witnesses, one for each of you in Florence’s words, over 18 and with valid identification; they may be of any nationality.
• An interpreter if either of you doesn’t understand Italian — at the declaration and at the ceremony. You arrange and pay for them; the comune does not provide one. A witness cannot double as the interpreter.
• The ceremony is led by the mayor or someone they delegate, in Italian. It includes the reading of articles 143, 144 and 147 of the Civil Code — the rights and duties of spouses — and is short; ask the comune how long they allow.
• Afterwards the act goes into the register and the comune issues the marriage certificate. For use outside the EU, have it apostilled by the Prefettura that covers the comune.

Can a civil ceremony be held at a villa or a castle?

Yes — when the comune has made it a place for weddings. Article 106 of the Civil Code still says a marriage is celebrated “publicly in the casa comunale”, but article 3 of Presidential Decree 396/2000 lets each comune set up separate civil-registry offices. The Ministry of the Interior’s circular 10/2014, following the Consiglio di Stato’s opinion 196/2014, sets the condition: the place must be in the comune’s legal availability, set aside for weddings on a lasting basis — certain days, or a defined part of the site — not borrowed for a single wedding. That is why some villas, castles and gardens can host a legal civil wedding and others can’t. Ravello, for example, lists two places for civil weddings — Palazzo Tolla and the Giardini della Principessa di Piemonte; its famous Villa Rufolo hosts no weddings at all, and Villa Cimbrone, a hotel, hosts weddings but not civil or Catholic ones (as of October 2026).

So ask two questions before booking: is this venue on the comune’s list of wedding places? and on which days? If it isn’t, the usual answer is a short civil ceremony at the town hall, the same day or the day before, and the ceremony you care about at the venue as a symbolic one. Our venues guide notes which venues say they can host a civil ceremony.

What does a civil wedding cost?

Comuni charge for the room, and many charge more to couples from elsewhere. The US Embassy gives €500 to €9,200 as the range across Italy. Florence publishes the clearest table; these are its prices for two foreign citizens living abroad, from 25 February 2025:

Smaller towns charge less: Ravello asks non-residents €650 from Monday to Thursday and €850 from Friday to Sunday and on public holidays (tariffs from 1 January 2019; page updated June 2024). Florence refunds its fee only if you cancel at least 30 days before. Other costs are yours too: the documents at home, translations, apostilles, revenue stamps, the interpreter, and the venue if the comune’s place is a private one.

A Catholic wedding with civil effect

Under the 1984 agreement between Italy and the Holy See, a Catholic wedding has civil effect once the church act is entered in the civil register. The priest reads articles 143, 144 and 147 of the Civil Code during the rite and sends the act to the comune within five days for transcription (Comune di Verona). So the civil formalities still happen first: your nulla osta and the comune’s clearance for the parish.

The Church side is a file of its own: baptism and confirmation certificates, marriage preparation, and the prenuptial enquiry, usually begun in your home parish and sent through your diocese to the diocese in Italy. Start months ahead and ask both parishes what they need — and their rules for the day. They differ: the parish of Positano, for example, celebrates no weddings in its parish church from 11 to 16 June or from 5 to 17 August.

Ministers of other faiths can celebrate with civil effect only if the Italian state has approved them (Law 1159/1929) or their faith has an agreement with the state; the comune then gives written authorisation first. If yours has neither, marry civilly before the religious ceremony.

Same-sex couples: a civil union, not marriage

Italy does not open marriage to same-sex couples. Since 5 June 2016 it has offered a civil union (unione civile), under Law 76/2016: two adults of the same sex form it by a declaration before the registrar, in front of two witnesses, and the registrar records it. Comma 19 of the law applies article 116 of the Civil Code, so foreign partners need the same nulla osta, and the procedure at the comune is much like a marriage. ISTAT counted 2,936 civil unions in Italy in 2024. Same-sex marriages celebrated abroad by an Italian citizen are transcribed in Italy as civil unions (Italian Consulate in London).

Before you choose, ask your own country how an Italian unione civile will be treated there. Many couples marry at home and celebrate in Italy with a symbolic ceremony; others prefer a country where they can marry — in Portugal and Spain, for instance, they can: see same-sex weddings in Portugal.

A symbolic ceremony

Many couples marry at home, before or after, and hold the ceremony they want in Italy: in English, led by a friend, at sunset on a terrace, by a lake at dawn. It has no legal effect, so no comune is involved — but the place still has its own rules. A venue decides for its land; for a lakeside, a beach, a square or a park, ask the comune or the park about permits, and see where to elope in Italy for the rules at the famous spots.

A timeline, in relative terms

Where your photographer fits in

• At the town hall, ask whether photos are allowed during the ceremony and where the photographer can stand; in busy rooms ceremonies follow each other closely, so be early.
• In a church, ask the parish about photography during the rite, flash and where the photographer may move. Rules vary from church to church.
• At a villa or in a garden, your photographer can help decide where you stand — which way the light falls at your hour, what is behind you. The best time to marry in Italy has sunset times for six cities.
• With an interpreter, the ceremony runs longer than it reads on paper: leave room in the timeline.

Next: what a wedding photographer in Italy costs, and how to build the day around the light in a wedding-day timeline. When you have a date, browse photographers who work where you are marrying, or tell us about your day and see who is free.